Love Interrupted by a Year 経年恋
立ちかはる春のかすみぞうらめしきあひみぬ年をへだつとおもへば
| tachikawaru haru no kasumi zo urameshiki aiminu toshi o hedatsu to omoeba | The swiftly changing Hazes of spring, How I envy them! When, a year with no tryst Does stand between, I think… |
Daishin
When Spring Arrives in the Old Year 旧年立春
年のうちに春はたちぬとうちつけに雪げの雲を霞とぞみる
| toshi no uchi ni haru wa tachinu to uchitsuke ni yukige no kumo o kasumi to zo miru | Within the old year Spring has come to call and Instantly The snow-scented clouds Seem haze before my eyes! |
Daishin
When Spring Arrives in the Old Year 旧年立春
あづまやの軒ばのたるひ薄くは雪かき分けて春や立つらん
| azumaya no nokiba no taruhi usuraku wa yuki kakiwakete haru ya tatsuran | On an eastern hut’s Eaves, the icicles Seem more slender now; Forging through the snows Has spring come to call? |
Higo
When Spring Arrives in the Old Year 旧年立春
とどむるにとどまらざりし春なれど待つにはきけり年の内にも
| todomuru ni todomarazarishi haru naredo matsu ni wa kikeri toshi no uchi ni mo | When it lingers, It lingered not; Spring is here, yet Awaiting it, it has come Still within this year… |
Kanemasa
When Spring Arrives in the Old Year 旧年立春
谷の戸をいでずとなけやうぐひすは年もあけぬに春はきにけり
| tani no to o idezu to nake ya uguisu wa toshi mo akenu ni haru wa kinikeri | Will ‘From the valley’s mouth Come not!’ you sing? O, warbler, for The year has not yet dawned, though Spring has come. |
Tadafusa
When Spring Arrives in the Old Year 旧年立春
一とせに春は二たび立ちぬれど老木の花はいかがさくべき
| hitotose ni haru wa futatabi tachinuredo oigi no hana wa ikaga sakubeki | In a single year Spring two times Has come, yet On an aged tree, blossom: How can it bloom? |
Nakazane
When Spring Arrives in the Old Year 旧年立春
年すぐる山べなこめそ朝がすみさこそは春と友にたつとも
| toshi suguru yamabe na kome so asagasumi sa koso wa haru to tomo ni tatsu tomo | The year’s passage shows On the mountain slopes – enfold them not, O, morning haze! For truly, it is as spring’s Companion that you should rise… |
Akinaka
First Snow 初雪
めもはるに花かとぞみるしもがれの草木もわかずふれる初皆
| me mo haru ni hana ka to zo miru shimogare no kusaki mo wakazu fureru hatsuyuki | Before my eyes, do spring In bloom I see? Frost-burned Trees and grasses both, I cannot tell Beneath the first snow fallen. |
Daishin
Composed when he had gone to a temple in the mountains.
宿りして春の山辺にねたる夜は夢の内にも花ぞちりける
| yadori site Faru no yamabe ni netaru yo Fa yume no uti ni mo Fana zo tirikeru | Lodging here Upon a mountainside in springtime, Sleeping at night Even my dreams are full Of scattered blossom. |
Tsurayuki
A poem from a poetry competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress, during the Kanpyō period.
春の野に若菜つまむと来し物をちりかふ花に道はまどひぬ
| Faru no no ni wakana tumamu to koshi mono wo tirikaFu Fana ni miti Fa madoFinu | To the meadows in springtime Thinking to pick fresh herbs Did I come, but Amongst the scattered blossom Have I lost my way. |
Tsurayuki