You do not ask why
I do not ask after you,
and the days wear on—
how greatly, all this while, has
my heart been torn and confused
- Meaning
-
You never ask why I do not ask after you, and as the days pass, how greatly my heart is thrown into confusion.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Yugao
The shock of losing Yugao left Genji gravely ill, and he saw no one. Hearing of it, Utsusemi sent word in this poem. She had refused him to the last, yet she had never stopped thinking of him, and concern for his illness moved her to take up her brush. He answered, and the exchange that had lapsed between them started again.
"Not asking" is her own failure to send word, and "without asking why" is his failure to inquire after her reason. Repeating the verb encloses in one poem a state in which neither asks and the time simply passes. She uses no language of love, conveying her feeling only through whether or not inquiries are made—very much the manner of Utsusemi, who refuses and still keeps something back.
- Author
-
Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
-
Genji Monogatari
- Other
-