山桜つひに咲くべきものならば
人の心をつくさざらなむ
人の心をつくさざらなむ
- Roma-ji
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Yamazakura tsui ni saku beki mono naraba hito no kokoro o tsukusazaranamu
- English Translation
-
Mountain cherry blooms,
if in the end you are sure
to come into flower,
I wish you would not wear out
the heart of one who waits
- Meaning
- Mountain cherry, if you are bound to bloom in the end, I wish you would not wear out the heart of the one who waits for you.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Love Poems I 215
Likening the beloved to a mountain cherry that will surely bloom someday, the poet asks that, if she means to accept him at last, she not keep him so anxious. The longing for flowers slow to open is overlaid on a heart waiting for a beloved slow to yield.
The first line, "yamazakura" (mountain cherry), likens the slow-to-yield beloved to a flower.
The second line, "tsui ni saku beki," uses the attributive "beki" to mean bound to bloom in the end.
The third line, "mono naraba" (if that is so), sets a hypothetical premise.
The fourth line, "hito no kokoro o," refers to the heart of the one who waits.
The final line, "tsukusazaranamu," ends with "namu," a wish addressed to another: please do not wear out my heart.
- Author
- Dōmyō
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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