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- Genji Monogatari
Kazashikeru kokoro zo ada ni omooyuru
yasoujibito ni nabete au hi o
It is the heart that wore the leaf that strikes me as idle, on a day when the whole crowd meets whoever comes along.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kuyashiku mo kazashikeru kana na nomi shite
hitodanome naru kusaba bakari o
How I regret ever having worn that leaf—a name and nothing else, a blade of grass that only leads one on.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Sode nururu koiji to katsu wa shirinagara
oritatsu tago no mizukara zo uki
Knowing well that this road of love is mire that soaks the sleeves, the field hand who steps down into it is wretched by her own doing.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Asami ni ya hito wa oritatsu waga kata wa
mi mo sobotsu made fukaki koiji o
It must be shallows you have stepped into; my own road of love is deep enough to soak me through and through.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Nagekiwabi sora ni midaruru waga tama o
musubitodome yo shitagae no tsuma
Bind and hold down this soul of mine, worn out with grief and drifting loose across the sky, by knotting the hem of your under-robe.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Noborinuru keburi wa sore to wakanedomo
nabete kumoi no aware naru kana
I cannot tell which of it is the smoke that rose, and so the whole of the clouded sky moves me.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kagiri areba usuzumigoromo asakeredo
namida zo sode o fuchi to nashikeru
Custom sets a limit, and so this mourning robe is pale; but my tears have turned the sleeves into a deep pool.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Hito no yo o aware to kiku mo tsuyukeki ni
okururu sode o omoi koso yare
Merely hearing how it goes with human life leaves me wet with dew, and my thoughts go to the sleeve of the one left behind.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tomaru mi mo kieshi mo onaji tsuyu no yo ni
kokoro okuramu hodo zo hakanaki
The one who stays and the one who has gone belong to the same world of dew; to keep any reserve in it seems a frail thing indeed.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ame to nari shigururu sora no ukigumo o
izure no kata to wakite nagamemu
She has turned to rain; and among the drifting clouds of this showery sky, which am I to pick out and gaze upon?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Mishi hito no ame to narinishi kumoi sae
itodo shigure ni kakikurasu koro
The very sky into which the one I knew has turned to rain is darkened all the more by these showers now.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kusagare no magaki ni nokoru nadeshiko o
wakareshi aki no katami to zo miru
This pink still standing by the withered fence I look on as a keepsake of the autumn that took her from us.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ima mo mite nakanaka sode o kutasu kana
kakiho arenishi yamatonadeshiko
Looking at it now only rots my sleeves the more with tears—this yamato pink beside a fence fallen to ruin.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Wakite kono kure koso sode wa tsuyukekere
mono omou aki wa amata henuredo
This evening above all others my sleeve is wet, though I have passed through many an autumn of grieving before.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Akigiri ni tachiokurenu to kikishi yori
shigururu sora mo ikaga to zo omou
Since I heard she had gone from you in the autumn mist, I have wondered how these showery skies must look to you.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Naki tama zo itodo kanashiki neshi toko no
akugaregataki kokoronarai ni
The soul that has gone grows sadder to me still, for my heart is too used to this bed we shared to drift away from it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu