Morning dew may yet
Remain without vanishing—
Such it might well be;
But who in this fleeting world
Could rely on anyone?
- Meaning
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Morning dew may perhaps remain without wholly vanishing; yet who could place trust in this world, more fleeting still, and rely upon it?
- Commentary
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50. If Birds’ Eggs Were Piled
There was a certain man. He resented a woman who reproached him, saying that he was unfaithful.
This poem is the woman’s reply to the man’s poem: “If birds’ eggs were piled, ten upon ten, layered high—even were it so, would one love a person who does not think of him at all?”
Morning dew disappears as soon as the sun rises; thus she suggests that the man, like the dew, will vanish from her side and go to another woman.
In this exchange, the man who criticizes the woman for blaming his inconstancy and the woman who reproaches the inconstant man enact a quarrel often seen between lovers, expressed through the giving of poems.
This exchange of poems continues further.
- Source
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Ise Monogatari
- Other
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