Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
高砂の
Ōe no Masafusa · 権中納言匡房
高砂の
尾の上の桜
咲きにけり
外山の霞
立たずもあらなむ
Historical kana
たかさごの
をのへのさくら
さきにけり
とやまのかすみ
たたずもあらなむ
Original English translation
The cherries have bloomed on the high mountain ridge; let no mist rise over the nearer hills.
History and context
Masafusa was a scholar and court official. His Goshuishū spring poem arranges distant flowers and nearer mist into a carefully layered landscape.
Imagery and wordplay
The speaker asks weather to preserve a view. Nearness threatens to obscure the beauty farther away.
Goshuishū · 後拾遺集春上120
Japanese text and historical kana follow the linked Wikisource transcription. Classical poems can have variant spellings and wording in different anthologies. The source anthology reference identifies the version represented in this collection, not necessarily its earliest surviving text. English prose translations and reading notes are original interpretations; some wordplay permits more than one reading.