桜ゆゑ厭ひし風の身にしみて
花より先に散りぬべきかな
花より先に散りぬべきかな
- Roma-ji
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Sakura yue itoishi kaze no mi ni shimite hana yori saki ni chirinubeki kana
- English Translation
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The wind that I hated
for the sake of cherry blooms
now pierces my flesh,
and before the blossoms do,
I must surely scatter first
- Meaning
- The wind I once hated for the sake of the cherry blossoms now chills me to the bone, and it seems I shall scatter before the flowers do.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 606
The wind the poet once disliked for scattering the cherry blossoms now pierces him to the bone, and it seems he will scatter before the blossoms do. Laying the end of life upon the word for scattering, the poem conveys the forlorn sense that one who grieved over falling flowers is about to leave the world before them.
Where the preceding poem, 605, told of blossoms that had fallen and returned to their roots, this poem tells of the poet himself about to fall before the flowers. The arrangement contrasts which comes first, the flowers or a human life.
First line, 'sakura yue', means for the sake of the cherry blossoms, giving their scattering as the reason.
Second line, 'itoishi kaze no', means the wind I hated, using the attributive shi of the past ki. Disliking the wind that scatters the blossoms is a frequent conceit in spring poems.
Third line, 'mi ni shimite', means piercing my body, the wind once feared for the flowers now cutting into the poet himself.
Fourth line, 'hana yori saki ni', means before the blossoms, standing in contrast to the flowers fallen and returned to the roots in the preceding poem, 605.
Final line, 'chirinubeki kana', means I must surely scatter, the perfective nu followed by the attributive of beshi and kana. The scattering of blossoms is overlaid with the ending of a life.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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