She may be gone,
but does she think of me—
the jeweled vine?
Her image alone
appears to me ever more clearly.

Meaning

She may be gone, yet does she think of me?—like a jeweled vine, her image alone appears ever more vividly before my eyes.

Commentary

Episode Twenty-One: "If I go forth and leave"

There were a man and a woman who loved one another and had no thought of turning their hearts elsewhere, yet over some trifling matter their married life became burdensome.

After the woman left the house, the man, sunk in absent-minded grief, composed this poem.
It expresses his longing for the one who has gone.
As he passes his days without knowing the cause of her departure, only his attachment to her grows stronger.

This poem is also included in the Shinchokusen Collection as anonymous, and it is thought to have been inspired by a poem in Book Two of the Man'yōshū, recorded as "A poem composed by the Empress of Yamato at the time of the Emperor’s death."

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

She may be gone, but does she think of me— the jeweled vine? Her image alone appears to me ever more clearly.

She may be gone,
but does she think of me—
the jeweled vine?
Her image alone
appears to me ever more clearly.