Even meeting you
floats on tears—my very self;
to one like me,
what use is the drug that grants no death?

Meaning

Even the thought of meeting you rises upon my tears; to one like me, what meaning is there in a drug that grants immortality?

Commentary

After Princess Kaguya had gone to the moon, the heartbroken Emperor composed this poem.

The Emperor had the elixir of immortality that Princess Kaguya left behind, together with this poem, carried by a man called Iwakasa to the “mountain nearest to heaven,” with many soldiers, and ordered them to burn it at the summit.

Since then, that mountain has been called the “Mountain of Fushi,” a pun on fushi (immortality) and Fuji.

Source

Taketori Monogatari

Other

Beneath tangled weeds, years have passed for one like me— how could I ever behold a jeweled dais?
Now at this moment, when I don the heavenly robe— only now I know how dear you were to me.
Like a boat borne on waves of Matsuyama’s sea, washed in and then left— soon it comes to emptiness.
Like a plover on waves of Matsuyama’s shore, my traces go on to the capital, yet I cry with sound alone.

Even meeting you floats on tears—my very self; to one like me, what use is the drug that grants no death?

Even meeting you
floats on tears—my very self;
to one like me,
what use is the drug that grants no death?