きくの露わかゆばかりにそでふれて花のあるじに千代はゆづらむ
kiku no tsuyu wakayu bakari ni sode furete hana no aruji ni chiyo wa yuzuramu | Chrysanthemum dew a little Youth, just, will Bring to my sleeves; To the flower’s mistress I would gift a thousand generations! |
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
つゆながらをりてかざさむきくのはなおいせぬ秋のひさしかるべく[1]
tsuyu nagara orite kasasamu kiku no hana oisenu aki no hisashikarubeku | Dew-dappled Let us pluck and wear Chrysanthemum blooms That an Autumn of eternal youth Should last forever! |
71
[1] This poem is included in Kokinshū (V: 270), where it is attributed to Ki no Tomonori.
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
[1] This poem is included in Gosenshū (VII: 415).
万代を菊の種とや蒔きそめて花見る毎に祈り来にける
yoroduyo wo
kiku no tane to ya
makisomete
Fana miru goto ni
inorikinikeru |
“For ten thousand generations!”
Chrysanthemum seeds
I have begun to sew, and
With the sight of every bloom,
That was my fervent prayer! |
19
秋果てて冬はとなりになりぬとて飽かねば菊を匂ひくはふる
aki Fatete
Fuyu Fa tonari ni
narinu tote
akaneba kiku wo
nioFi kuFaFuru |
Autumn is done, and
Winter is close
At hand, they say;
When I am left wanting more, the chrysanthemums’
Scent grows thicker. |
18
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.
菊の水齢を延べずあらませばさとも荒さで今日あはましや
kiku no midu
yowaFi wo nobezu
aramaseba
sato mo arasade
keFu aFamasi ya |
The chrysanthemums’ waters
Age do not extend –
If that were so, then
Would undisarrayed their estate be where
We would meet today? |
15
すめらぎの萬代までしませからは給ひし種を植ゑし菊なり
sumeragi no
yoroduyo made si
mase kara Fa
tamaFisi tane wo
uwesi kiku nari |
Enduring our Emperor’s
Ten thousand generations,
So most fine are
These gifted seeds,
Planted into chrysanthemums. |
14
飲むからに親子の中もわかれずときく谷水をひきて流せり
nomu kara ni
oyako no naka mowakarezu to
kiku tanimidu wo
Fikite nagaseri |
Drinking, so
A parent-child bond
Shall not broken be,
I hear; chrysanthemums, waters from the mountain streams
Draw up, and have set flow once more. |
12
'Simply moving and elegant'