Meet the Poets of Hyakunin Isshu
Ono no Komachi

Meaning

How the beauty of the cherry blossoms faded away, soaked by the long spring rains. And just like them, my own looks have faded too, lost in a haze of endless longing.

Commentary

Ono no Komachi spent her days in search of a true and faithful love.

But as her heart was consumed by longing, the months and years slipped by, and she found her youth slipping away with them.

In this poem she overlays her own fading beauty upon the cherry blossoms beaten pale by long spring rains.

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