Had I never once,
faint as it was, tied a knot
in that eaves-reed there,
on what could I now hang out
this small complaint of the dew

Meaning

Had I never, however faintly, tied a knot in that reed at the eaves, on what could I now hang this dew-slight complaint of mine?

Commentary

Part One: Yugao

　With letters passing again between him and Utsusemi, Genji also sent word to Nokiba no Ogi, the woman with whom he had once spent a night by mistake. She was already married to a Kurodo Shosho, but he had not forgotten her, and sent this poem. She answered, showing that the thread between them still held, faint as it was. The chapter then turns toward his parting from Utsusemi.

　"Nokiba no ogi" is the reed growing at the eaves, and it serves as this lady's name. "Musubu" plays tying a knot in the reeds against binding a vow between man and woman. "The complaint of the dew" is a slight grievance, tied to the image of dew settling on the reeds. The poem uses one night as a pretext for writing, and keeps the whole of it inside a single continuous image of reed and dew—a piece of conspicuous technique.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Had I never once, faint as it was, tied a knot in that eaves-reed there, on what could I now hang out this small complaint of the dew

Had I never once,
faint as it was, tied a knot
in that eaves-reed there,
on what could I now hang out
this small complaint of the dew