KKS 70
Text
[Topic unknown]
[Poet unknown]
待てといふに散らでしとまる物ならば何を桜に思ひまさまし
|
mate to iu ni |
If by saying "wait!" |
Notes
Other sources:
Analysis
The set of initial poems continues with the same theme, of looking towards the coming scattering of the cherry blossoms with unease.
The translation above follows one interpretation of the poem: cherry blossoms are good precisely because they scatter, and if we could make them stop, that would not increase our affection for them. This idea transforms the anxiety towards the scattering into praise, even if the poet might also harbor the wish that they really could remain on the branches. In this case it can be seen as following from poem 69; the flowers are clearly fading towards scattering, so the poet imagines that he could tell them to wait, and consoles himself with the knowledge that the scattering completes the beauty of the flowers.
Another interpretation takes the final lines to mean "What could we love any greater than cherry blossoms?" -- that is, the one flaw of the cherries is that they scatter, and if we could stop them from doing so, they would be perfect.
The first interpretation goes back at least as far as Fujiwara no Teika, who wrote a poem based on this one (Shūi gusō 643) that is explicit in its meaning.
