Kami matsuru uzuki ni nareba u no hana no uki koto no ha no kazu ya masaramu

神祭る卯月になれば卯の花の
憂きことの葉の数やまさらむ

Roma-ji: Kami matsuru uzuki ni nareba u no hana no uki koto no ha no kazu ya masaramu
English Translation: Gods are worshipped now,
for the fourth month has arrived:
as deutzia leaves grow,
so the leaves of sorrowful words—
will their number not increase?
Meaning: Now that the fourth month of divine festivals has come, will the sorrowful words offered to the gods grow as many as the leaves of the deutzia?
Commentary: Summer Poems 137

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Deutzia flowers"
In the fourth month, rich in festivals for the gods, the poet wonders whether the sorrowful words offered to the gods will multiply like the leaves of the deutzia. Following the preceding poem, he again turns from the deutzia to the sorrows of the world.
The Ruijū text places this poem among "poems found in another manuscript and in printed editions." In the source text consulted, the first character of line 4 could not be read, and u has been supplied here, taking the device to be the same as in the preceding poem, where "deutzia" leads to "sorrowful."

Line 1, "gods are worshipped," reflects the many Shinto festivals, such as the Kamo Festival, held in the fourth month.
Line 2, "when the fourth month comes": ba marks an established condition.
Line 3 repeats the sound u from uzuki and leads on to uki. It is the same line as line 3 of the preceding poem, 136, so the two form a pair under the topic of deutzia.
Line 4: koto no ha is a pivot word meaning both "words" and "the leaves" of the deutzia.
Line 5: ya is an interrogative binding particle, and the conjectural mu concludes it in the attributive form.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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