Riding to the Sound of Thunder

Blossoms come out in response to a place called the Terrace of the Sun, a name we leave in its plainest sense. Carts move along loaded with valuables. A person bearing official papers goes to court before the emperor. The poem ends with a rider at speed who hears thunder.

Dai-kichi, Great good fortune, is printed in the book for this lot, and every line is in motion toward something grander. Flowers, cargo, court and galloping horse pile up without a single check.

Translated into the present, this is a full calendar where the deliveries, the formal meeting and the rush all come in a single stretch. When everything moves this fast, what does the thunder sound like to the person on the horse?