Not knowing the place
where this young grass will grow up,
the dew that leaves it
behind has no sky at all
in which it could fade away
- Meaning
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Not knowing where this young grass will grow, the dew that must leave it behind has no sky in which to vanish.
- Commentary
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Part One: Wakamurasaki
Ill with a recurring fever, Genji went to a holy man in the northern hills for healing rites. One evening, feeling somewhat better, he walked out and looked in over a low brushwood fence at a monk's dwelling. Inside were an elderly woman in a nun's habit and a beautiful girl of about ten. The child was in tears because her sparrow had escaped, and stroking her hair the nun, her grandmother, spoke this poem. That glimpse drew Genji powerfully to the girl, and he soon set about learning who she was.
The "young grass" is the small granddaughter, the future Murasaki no Ue, and the "dew" is the nun herself, soon to go before her. Dew is bound to vanish, but to have no sky even to vanish into means she cannot die with a mind at rest. A grandmother's fear at leaving so young a child is held inside one continuous image of grass and dew. Set near the opening of the chapter, this poem also sets the whole tale in motion.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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