春霞たちかへるべき空ぞなき
花のにほひに心とまりて
花のにほひに心とまりて
- Roma-ji
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Harugasumi tachikaerubeki sora zo naki hana no nioi ni kokoro tomarite
- English Translation
-
As spring haze rises,
to rise and turn back for home
I have no heart now,
for the beauty of the flowers
holds my heart and keeps it here
- Meaning
- Like the spring haze rising, I have no mind to rise and go home, for my heart is held fast by the beauty of the blossoms.
- Commentary
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Book One Spring Poems 35
Captivated by the beauty of the blossoms, the poet says he has no wish to go home. The upper half states his reluctance to leave, and the lower half gives the reason through inversion. Set within a sequence apparently connected with blossom viewing at Shirakawa, it conveys the retired emperor's contentment in enjoying the flowers.
The author, Shirakawa-in, is Emperor Shirakawa, the seventy-second sovereign. The first son of Emperor Go-Sanjō, he continued to rule as a retired emperor after abdicating, and he commanded Minamoto no Toshiyori to compile this anthology.
First line, 'harugasumi', leads, through haze rising, into tachikaeru.
Second line, 'tachikaerubeki', contains tachikaeru, a pivot word meaning both the haze rising and rising to go home.
Third line, 'sora zo naki', uses sora, here the mood or heart, chosen as an associated word of haze and sky. Zo closes on the attributive naki, and the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'hana no nioi ni', uses nioi, the beauty of the flowers' color.
Final line, 'kokoro tomarite', means my heart detained, an inversion that gives the reason for the upper half after the fact.
- Author
- Retired Emperor Shirakawa
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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