If we were a pair
who let no night come between
the times that we meet,
why would the daylight hours then
be anything to shrink from

Meaning

If we were close enough that not a single night passed between our meetings, what would there be in the daylight to be ashamed of?

Commentary

Part One: Hahakigi

　As the Tо̄ Shikibu no Jo fled, the scholar's daughter sent this poem after him. It reproaches a man whose visits had grown rare, and at the same time shows her wit in answering on the instant. He finished the story by saying that such a woman is, after all, hard to be at ease with, and the company laughed. The rainy-night discussion ends here, and Genji's interest in women of the middle rank deepens.

　She takes his "hiruma" and turns the same word back on him. "Mabayukaramashi" means "would be embarrassing," and the contrary-to-fact form lets her imply that they are not in truth so close. The scene is comic, yet the poem is exactly made, and the way the words are handled shows plainly the learned woman the story sets up.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

If we were a pair who let no night come between the times that we meet, why would the daylight hours then be anything to shrink from

If we were a pair
who let no night come between
the times that we meet,
why would the daylight hours then
be anything to shrink from