Passing the mountains, crossing the sky

山越えて空わたりゆく遠鳴の風ある日なり山ざくら花
やまこえて　そらわたりゆく　とおなりの　かぜあるひなり　やまざくらばな

Crossing the mountains, crossing the sky; today I hear the wind cry from afar. Petals of the mountain cherry.

風が山を越えて空を吹き渡ってゆく。　こんな遠鳴りの風のある日は、山桜の花が風に舞って空を越えてゆく。

風の音を聴いて、山桜の花が舞い散ってゆくようすを想像して歌っている。牧水の心の中に、焼き付いている故郷の山桜の花は、実際にその風景を目の前に見ていなくても、鮮やかに描き出すことができるのだろう。「遠鳴り」は遠くまで鳴り響くこと。明治四十年春の歌。

The wind crosses over the amountain and is blown over the sky. A day when the sound of the wind carries is when the petals of the mountain cherry are carried into the sky.

This poem imagines a scence listening to the sound of the wind and seeing the scattering of the petals of the Mountain Cherry. Even without actually seeing the scene in front of him, the petals of the Mountain Cherry of his home village are burnt into Bokusui's heart and but are abstracted freshly for this poem. "Tounari" means for the sound to carry from far away.

舞い散る・まいちる・scatter while being carried by the wind
故郷・ふるさと・home town