Loving still,
I could not detain
the one who left,
not loving me the same—
and now my life has faded away.
- Meaning
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Though I loved him, I could not detain the one who left without loving me the same, and now my life has faded away.
- Commentary
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Episode Twenty-Four: "Of the new-turning year"
A man living in a remote countryside left the woman in order to serve at court, and for three full years he did not visit her. Wearied of waiting, she resolved to take a new pillow with another. When the man returned and learned of this, he composed, "Azusa bow, true-bow, and zelkova bow—through the passing years, cherish him with the same devotion as you once did me," and departed.
Unable to forget her former love, the woman tried to detain him, but he disappeared in order to act with propriety toward the new man she was to marry.
She pursued him, yet could not catch up, and fell by a spring of clear water.
With the blood from her finger she wrote this poem upon a rock, and there she died.
- Source
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Ise Monogatari
- Other
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Azusa bow,
true-bow, and zelkova bow—
through passing years,
love him with fair devotion
as once you did with me.
-
Azusa bow—
whether you draw it or not,
from long ago
my heart has leaned toward you
and never turned away.
-
In autumn fields,
my sleeves, parting the bamboo grass
at break of day—
yet more than that dew-wetness
are the nights I lie without you.
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Knowing not, perhaps,
that I am like a shore
where no miru grows,
the fisherman, not weary,
drags his feet and comes.