Kakiwakete oreba tsuyu koso koborekere asaji ni majiru nadeshiko no hana

かき分けて折れば露こそこぼれけれ
浅茅に交じる撫子の花

Roma-ji: Kakiwakete oreba tsuyu koso koborekere asaji ni majiru nadeshiko no hana
English Translation: Parting through the grass,
as I pluck it, how the dew
spills and scatters down,
mingled with the low cogon,
the blossom of the pink.
Meaning: When I parted the grass and plucked it, how the dew spilled down from the wild pink blooming among the low cogon grass!
Commentary: Summer Poems 234

Headnote: "The wild pink"
This poem was composed on the topic of the wild pink. When the poet parts the grass to pluck a pink blooming among the low cogon, the dew gathered on it spills down. Pairing the delicate pink with the dew on the surrounding grass, the poem depicts the freshness of the summer meadow.
Nadeshiko, the pink, echoes nadeshi ko, a child one has caressed, and the flower was likened to a beloved child; the falling dew adds to its delicate charm.

First line, “kakiwakete”: pushing aside the thick grass with one's hands.
Second line, “oreba tsuyu koso”: oreba, the perfective with ba, means when I plucked it; koso emphasizes the dew.
Third line, “koborekere”: koso is answered by the perfective kere, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “asaji ni majiru”: asaji is low cogon grass, and the pink blooms mingled with it.
Fifth line, “nadeshiko no hana”: the poem ends on a noun, naming the pink that spilled its dew; the lower verse supplies the object of the upper verse afterwards in an inversion.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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