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- Genji Monogatari
At this dusk, when signs the spider gives are so clear, to be told to wait and let the daylight go by makes no sense that I can see
On an evening when the spider's signs are this plain, being told to let the daylight pass first makes no sense at all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
If we were a pair who let no night come between the times that we meet, why would the daylight hours then be anything to shrink from
If we were close enough that not a single night passed between our meetings, what would there be in the daylight to be ashamed of?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Before I have done blaming her for her coldness, at this break of dawn the cock crows to startle me into leaving all behind
Before I have finished reproaching her coldness, the dawn comes, and the bird startles me into leaving without even gathering myself.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
This night that breaks up before I have grieved my fill at my wretched life— laid over the bird's crying, my own voice cries out as well
On a night that breaks before I have grieved my fill over my own wretchedness, my voice cries out along with the bird's.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
While I grieve and ask if that dream night comes again, not even our eyes have been allowed to meet now, and the days have worn away
While I grieve and wonder whether that dreamlike night will ever come again, the days have gone by without so much as our eyes meeting.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Not knowing the heart of the broom tree that fades out, I have lost my way along Sonohara's road, wandering there for nothing
Not knowing your heart—the broom tree that vanishes when approached—I have wandered the Sonohara road for nothing at all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Bearing the sad name of what grows at Fuseya, a house of no count, the broom tree fades and goes out, scarcely there at all to see
Burdened with the name of something growing at Fuseya, a house of no account, the broom tree fades away, scarcely there at all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
At the tree's foot, where the cicada changed its form and left the shell there, still the person that she was draws me and stays dear to me
At the foot of the tree where the cicada shed its shell and changed its form, the person she was still draws me and remains dear.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Like the dew that lies on a cicada's thin wing, hidden by the tree, secretly and secretly these sleeves of mine are wetted
Like dew on a cicada's wing, hidden away in the shade of the tree, my sleeves are wet in secret, and in secret again.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Guessing at a glance, I take it to be that one— the evening flower on which the white dew has laid a light that it did not have
Guessing, I take you for that one—the evening face flower, to which the white dew has added a light of its own.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Only drawing near could one tell if it is that— in the failing dusk what I saw was faint and dim, that flower of evening face
Only by coming close could one tell whether it is truly that—this evening face flower, glimpsed so faintly in the dusk.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Not even waiting for the morning mist to clear, you go on your way— I see that this flower here has held no part of your heart
You leave without even waiting for the morning mist to lift, and so I see that the flower held no part of your heart.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
The name of a man whose heart moves to each new bloom I would rather hide, and yet it is hard to pass this morning glory unplucked
I would keep hidden the name of a man whose heart moves to each new flower, and still I find it hard to pass this morning glory without picking it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Taking as our guide the road the lay ascetic walks in his practice, do not break the deeper vow that binds us in the next world
Let the road that the lay ascetic walks in his devotions be our guide, and do not break the deep vow that binds us in the life to come.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Since the bond I had in a life before this one is known by my grief, I cannot bring myself yet to trust in what is to come
The sorrow of my life makes plain how thin my bond was in an earlier existence, and so I cannot yet trust in what lies ahead.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Did those long ago lose their way in this manner, bewildered as I? This road at the break of dawn is one I have never known
Did people long ago lose themselves like this? This road at daybreak is one I have never traveled before.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu