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Kokinshu #114
Saturday, 23 July 2011 08:54 Written when a poetry contest was held at the house of the Middle Captain's Lady of the Bedchamber in the Ninna era.
Were my heart that thinks
"it is so lamentable"
twisted into thread,
I'd overtake and keep in place
every scattering flower.
BTW, I forgot to mention in #108 that Lady of the Bedchamber was a title given to concubines who bear the emperor a child; the Middle Captain is apparently a male relative being used as a disambiguator. Thus, the contest was not some middling-courtier's event, but something with at least tacit imperial backing.
oshi to omou
kokoro wa ito ni
yorarenamu
chiru hana-goto ni
nukite todomemu
---L.
Were my heart that thinks
"it is so lamentable"
twisted into thread,
I'd overtake and keep in place
every scattering flower.
—18 July 2011
Original by Sosei. The bit about keeping them is obscure but seems to be pointing at tying petals to the branch, though it could also indicate somehow convincing them with all his heart to not scatter. Like I said, obscure.BTW, I forgot to mention in #108 that Lady of the Bedchamber was a title given to concubines who bear the emperor a child; the Middle Captain is apparently a male relative being used as a disambiguator. Thus, the contest was not some middling-courtier's event, but something with at least tacit imperial backing.
oshi to omou
kokoro wa ito ni
yorarenamu
chiru hana-goto ni
nukite todomemu
---L.