Hito wa Isa (Ki no Tsurayuki, Hyakunin Isshu No. 35) / Garu JP
After all these years, I came to visit your home
You smiled and greeted me — "It's been so long"
Then murmured, "I thought you had forgotten me"
That voice quietly pierced my chest
Unable to answer, I lowered my eyes — and there
In the corner of the garden, a plum branch was swaying
People — ah, who can know their hearts?
But the plum blossoms in this garden
Still bloom with the same fragrance as long ago
I cannot know what is in your heart
Yet the flowers remember me
And welcome me just as they always did
Was it you who changed, or was it me?
Even that, I can no longer tell
But this fragrance carried on the wind
Is not one bit different from that spring day
Time is cruel, and time is kind
What does it erase, and what does it leave behind?
People — ah, who can know their hearts?
But the plum blossoms in this garden
Send their fragrance across the years
Even me, changed as I am —
The flowers quietly forgive
And give me back the self I used to be
Something that words cannot hold
The flowers remember it in my place
That alone is enough, I can feel
And spring has come again this year
People — ah, who can know their hearts? Yet my old home —
Its flowers bloom with the fragrance of long ago
People — ah, who can know their hearts?
Still, like these flowers that go on blooming
With the same old fragrance beside me
I too will live through this day
The flowers bloom with the fragrance of long ago
The flowers bloom with the fragrance of long ago
▶