On an old woman wiping her face with chrysanthemum dew on the ninth day of the Ninth Month.
けふまでに我をおもへば菊の上の露は千年の玉にざりける
| kyō made ni ware o omoeba kiku no ue no tsuyu wa chitose no tama nizarikeru | Up until this day Have you thought of me, so Upon the chrysanthemums These dewdrops, thousand year Jewels do not seem to be. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
もみぢばのながるるあきはかはごとににしきあらふとひとはみるらん[1]
| momijiba no nagaruru aki wa kawa goto ni nishiki arau to hito wa miruramu | The scarlet leaves Flow and in autumn By every river Washing their brocade Folk can be seen! |
ひしくればよるもめかれじきくのはなあきすぎぬればあふべきものか
| hi shi kureba yoru mo mekareji kiku no hana aki suginureba aubeki mono ka | When the day is here, At night you do escape my sight, O, chrysanthemums; When autumn has passed by, I wonder shall we meet again? |
70
Composed on someone passing through chrysanthemums to reach a sage’s dwelling.
濡れて干す山路の菊の露のまにいつか千歳を我は経にけむ
| nurete Fosu yamazi no kiku no tuyu no ma ni ituka titose wo ware Fa Fenikemu | Drenched, then drying On this mountain path with chrysanthemum Dewdrops—in that little space Has, somehow, a thousand years Passed me by? |
Sosei
17
This poems was included in Kokinshū (V: 273), where it has a somewhat different headnote.
The Gentlemen of the Right. These, too, had the sons of the Courtiers Fujiwara no Shigetoki and Hirokage, the Governor of Awa, construct an extremely large suhama upon which all the chrysanthemums were grown together; because the area was cramped when they brought it in, they made preparation to bring it in all at once, attaching wheels to sections, thinking to do it in one, but were startled by the Gentlemen of the Left bringing in their blooms one by one – when all were brought in and assembled together, they made a single charming spectacle, yet though assembled, they were separated and thus seemed incomplete. The initial poem became mixed in with all the others.
山深く入りにし身をぞいたづらに菊の匂ひに憩へ来にける
| yama Fukaku irinisi mi wo zo itadura ni kiku no nioFi ni ikoFekinikeru |
Deep within the mountains Have I entered in; Idly has The chrysanthemums’ scent Brought me to my ease. |
11