From the Six Volumes, on this topic.
花咲きし庭のあぢさゐあぢきなくなどてよひらに我をすてけん
hana sakishi
niwa no ajisai
ajikinaku
nado yohira ni
ware o suteken | The flowers blooming in
This garden—hydrangeas—
Why, unreasonably,
Do your fourfold petals, so completely
Seem to abandon me at night? |
The Ikasa Minister of the Centre
[One of] five poems sent by Yakamochi, Lord Ōtomo, to the Elder Maiden of Sakanoe.
言問はぬ木すらあぢさゐ諸弟らが練りのむらとに詐かれけり
koto topanu
ki sura adisawi
morotora ga
neri no mura to ni
azamukarekeri | Mute are
Trees, yet even they blossom as hydrangeas do;
Many are the men
By your honeyed words
Deceived, no doubt! |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
'Simply moving and elegant'
