吹き来れば香をなつかしみ梅の花
散らさぬほどの春風もがな
散らさぬほどの春風もがな
- Roma-ji
-
Fukikureba ka o natsukashimi ume no hana chirasanu hodo no harukaze mo gana
- English Translation
-
When it comes blowing
I long for the scent it brings;
of the plum blossoms
not so strong as to scatter them,
O for such a breeze of spring.
- Meaning
- When the wind blows in, the plum's scent draws my heart; how I wish for a spring breeze gentle enough not to scatter the blossoms.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 9
Drawn to the plum scent carried on the spring breeze yet loath to have that breeze scatter the flowers, the poet wishes for a gentle wind that brings only the fragrance. The contradictory wishes, to have the scent and to spare the blossoms, are sung tenderly.
The author is said to be Minamoto no Tokitsuna. Here begin two poems on the plum.
The first line, "when it comes blowing," withholds its subject, the spring breeze, until the last line.
The second line, "I long for the scent," uses the pattern of noun, "o," adjective stem and "mi," meaning because the scent is so dear.
The third line, "plum blossoms," names the spring flower sung chiefly for its scent, a word shared with the first line of the next poem.
The fourth line, "not so strong as to scatter them," voices the delicate wish that the wind bring the scent but spare the flowers.
In the last line, "mogana" is a final particle of wishing. The same spring breeze that blows in the last line of poem 1 here becomes the object of a wish.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Nenohi su to haru no nogoto ni tazunureba matsu ni hikaruru kokochi koso sure
- Next Poem
-
Ume no hana nioi o michi no shirube nite aruji mo shiranu yado ni kinikeri