枕結ふ今宵ばかりの露けさを
深山の苔に比べざらなむ
深山の苔に比べざらなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Makura yū koyoi bakari no tsuyukesa o
miyama no koke ni kurabezaranamu - English Translation
-
The dew of one night,
this night alone, on the grass
you bind as pillow—
do not set it up beside
the moss of these deep mountains
- Meaning
- The tears of a single night, spent on a pillow of bound grass—please do not set them beside the mossy sleeves of those who live in these deep hills.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Wakamurasaki
The nun answered Genji's poem with this one. Treating his words as no more than the sentiment of one night on the road, she conveys quietly that she has no intention of giving up her granddaughter. Genji found in the composure of the reply a further sign of her cultivation. He kept writing afterward, but her attitude did not change.
"Binding a pillow" is knotting grass for a headrest on a journey, and stands for lodging away from home. She takes up his "traveler's bed" and "dew" and returns them as the exchange required. "The moss of the deep hills" is the rough habit of those who have left the world, and by saying that their tears are daily she marks the distance from a single night's feeling. The poem refuses without giving offense, exactly as she carries herself throughout.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- While the young grasses end is not yet to be seen, how can it be that the dew should already make ready to fade and be gone
- Since I looked upon the young leaves of that new grass, the sleeve I lie on here in my traveler's bed has not once been dry of dew
- Waking from my dream at the deep mountain wind's blast blowing every way, here is the sound of falling water that draws out my tears
- At this mountain stream that has of a sudden made your sleeve wet with tears, would a heart that dwells here clear be stirred and troubled at all