lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
lnhammer ([personal profile] lnhammer) wrote2011-02-05 09:05 am

Kokinshu #61

Written in a year with an intercalary Third Month.

    O cherry blossoms,
in these years with extra spring,
    at the very least,
couldn't you then attempt to
satisfy the human heart?

—18 November 2010

Original by Ise. To keep the lunar calendar of the time in synch with the solar year, leap months were added as needed; that it was an extra Third Month tells us that this was written in 904. Needless to say, flowers don't actually last longer when spring is four months long, making this another specimen of the wit of #1, though handled here with more grace. The grammatically unmarked flowers can be read pretty much only as an address.


sakurabana
haru kuwawareru
toshi dani mo
hito no kokoro ni
akare ya wa senu


---L.

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