1822
.さればこそろくな春なれ門の雪
sareba koso rokuna haru nare kado no yuki
do your best, Spring
make a decent effort...
snow at the gate
Sareba koso is an old expression, equivalent to yappari sô da ("none-the-less"); Kogo dai jiten (Shogakukan 1983) 729. Issa is saying, "Although there is snow at the gate, I hope that you will none-the-less make an effort at being a decent spring."
All translations © 1991-2010 by David G. Lanoue, rights reserved.