Nagametsuru ashita no ame no niwa no omo ni hana no yuki shiku haru no yūgure

ながめつる朝の雨の庭の面に
花の雪敷く春の夕暮

Roma-ji: Nagametsuru ashita no ame no niwa no omo ni hana no yuki shiku haru no yūgure
English Translation: Lost in long rain-gazing,
the morning's falling showers;
on the garden ground
snow of blossoms lies outspread—
the evening dusk of springtime.
Meaning: On the garden where I gazed in brooding at the long morning rain, a snow of blossoms now lies spread—the dusk of a spring evening.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1460

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Blossoms"
The eighth of the ten poems on blossoms. In the garden where from morning he gazed in brooding at the long rain, by evening the blossoms beaten down by the rain lie spread like snow.
Within the passage of time from morning to dusk, the falling of the blossoms in the rain is shown through the scene of petals strewn over the ground. It shares hana no yuki and niwa with the preceding poem; where that poem would keep the piled petals untrodden, this one quietly gazes at the strewn scene itself.

First line, “nagametsuru”: a pivot word joining nagame, to gaze in brooding, and nagame, long rain, echoing “ame” in the second line.
Second line, “ashita no ame no”: ashita means morning, the rain of the morning.
Third line, “niwa no omo ni”: on the surface of the garden; the line has an extra syllable.
Fourth line, “hana no yuki shiku”: petals spread out like snow, using the same hana no yuki as the preceding poem.
Fifth line, “haru no yūgure”: ending on a noun, leaving the passage from morning to dusk as an afterglow.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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