Though the woven fence
of this poor hill dwelling breaks,
still from time to time
let your pity fall on us
as dew falls upon the pink

Meaning

Even if the fence of this poor hill house falls to ruin, let your kindness come to us now and then, the way dew settles on the pink.

Commentary

Part One: Hahakigi

　To no Chujo told of a quiet woman of no high birth. He visited her in secret, and a small daughter was born to them, but threatening words reached her from the household of his principal wife, and she went into hiding. Before that she had sent him this poem, likening the little girl to a pink and asking that he show them kindness at least from time to time. He answered with a poem, but she disappeared, and it emerges later that this woman was Yugao.

　"Yamagatsu" means a lowly person living in the hills, a way of speaking of her own position humbly. The "pink" is the small daughter, and the "dew" holds both kindness and tears. She voices no reproach directly and asks only for pity for the child's sake, which is exactly the mild, unangular woman To no Chujo had described. As groundwork for the Yugao chapter, this poem carries considerable weight.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Though the woven fence of this poor hill dwelling breaks, still from time to time let your pity fall on us as dew falls upon the pink

Though the woven fence
of this poor hill dwelling breaks,
still from time to time
let your pity fall on us
as dew falls upon the pink