故郷のもとあらの小萩いたづらに
見る人なしみ咲きか散るらむ
見る人なしみ咲きか散るらむ
- Roma-ji
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Furusato no motoara no kohagi itazura ni miru hito nashimi saki ka chiruramu
- English Translation
-
In the old village
the thin-rooted little clover,
all to no avail,
with no one there to see it,
does it bloom and scatter now?
- Meaning
- In the old village, does the sparse little bush clover bloom and fall in vain, with no one there to see it?
- Commentary
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Autumn Poems 208
Headnote: "Bush clover at an old village"
The poet imagines the sparse little bush clover of an old village, now deserted, blooming and falling in vain with no one there to see it. Picturing the clover of a far-off place, he sings of the transience of unregarded flowers.
This poem was included in the Shinchokusen Wakashū. The Ruijū and Teika texts differ slightly in the lower lines. Kamo no Mabuchi commented that the lower lines should read miru hito nashi ni, and that nashimi is poor.
Line 1, furusato, is a village long inhabited and now in decline.
Line 2 is the same as line 4 of the preceding poem, 207; against the clover of the poet's own house there, this poem sings of the clover of an old village.
Line 3, itazura ni, means "in vain, to no purpose."
Line 4, miru hito nashimi, means "since there is no one to see," with mi on an adjective stem marking a reason. Like "with none to see" at the opening of 205, it sings of clover no one regards.
Line 5: ka is an interrogative binding particle concluded by the attributive of the present conjectural ramu.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
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Akikaze wa itaku na fukiso waga yado no motoara no kohagi chiramaku mo oshi
- Next Poem
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Michinobe no ono no yūgiri tachikaeri mite koso yukame akihagi no hana