It is Spring,Yet snow falls from the sky.A snow so different from the winter’s chill.Fragrant snow-flowers ― lovely in white and pink.Another year has slipped away.As flowers bloom in full1) and wither in so short a time,We mortals, once young, grow old and pass away.In all worldly affairs, there is a season for everything.In all the years I have lived until now,How much have I truly accomplished by my own will?Before I knew it, age has crept upon me ―Is it perhaps time for me to let go?There is still work left to be done,Yet I wonder when I shall ever bring it to a close.With empty pockets,I only watch as the river of time flows by.On such a dazzling spring day,From the sky,The fragrant snow-flowers ― lovely in white and pink ― descend,Yet with a single sigh, the towering fortress2) of my heart crumbles.
1) Bloom in Full : The state in which flowers have opened completely.
2) Towering Fortress : Literally “ten thousand yards high”; it refers to something immensely high or deep, symbolizing the vast scale of one’s inner heart or spirit.