春深み峰の嵐に散る花の
定めなき夜に恋妻ぞする
定めなき夜に恋妻ぞする
- Roma-ji
-
Haru fukami mine no arashi ni chiru hana no sadame naki yo ni koizuma zo suru
- English Translation
-
The spring grown deep,
like blossoms scattered by
the storm upon the peak,
in a night of no certainty
I long for my beloved.
- Meaning
- Spring has grown deep, and like the blossoms scattered by the storm on the peak, on this uncertain night I long for the one I love.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 407
Headnote: "Among poems on love"
Spring has deepened, and like blossoms scattered by the storm on the mountain peak, the poet longs for the one he loves on a night with nothing certain. The fragility of falling flowers is laid over a heart whose love has no settled course. The poem opens the love section of Minamoto no Sanetomo's Kinkai Wakashū.
The base text glosses line 5 as koitsutsu zo furu, "I pass my days in longing," and the Ruijū text and the text transmitted by Fujiwara no Teika read the line that way. Here the base text is followed.
Line 1, haru fukami, means "since spring is deep," the suffix mi expressing cause. Book Four closed with poem 406 at the end of winter; the love section begins again with a spring scene. Whereas the closing poem, 561, ends with autumn reeds and hidden love, this opening poem begins with spring blossoms falling, so the opening and the close form a seasonal pair.
Line 2 means "by the storm on the peak."
Line 3 means "like the scattering blossoms," and the first three lines form a preface leading to "uncertain" in line 4.
Line 4 means "on a night with nothing settled," overlaying the drifting blossoms on the unease of love.
Line 5: the binding particle zo is concluded by suru in the attributive form, stressing the act of longing for a beloved.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
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Yuku toshi no yukue o toeba yo no naka no hito koso hitotsu moukuberanare
- Next Poem
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Omoi nomi fukaki miyama no hototogisu hito koso shirane ne o nomi zo naku