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

Meaning

Woken from my dream by the wind sweeping down off the deep hills, I hear the waterfall, and it draws the tears out of me.

Commentary

Part One: Wakamurasaki

　On his last night in the northern hills Genji lay awake until dawn. The wind coming down off the mountain woke him, and as he listened to the unbroken sound of the waterfall, everything pressed in on him at once—his unquenchable feeling for Fujitsubo, the girl he had seen there. It was then that he spoke this poem. The bishop answered at once, and the difference between the two men's states of mind stands out.

　"Miyama oroshi" is the strong wind that comes down off the hills, and "blowing every way" gives its disorder. "Waking from my dream" is literally waking, and also carries the Buddhist sense of waking from delusion. Saying the waterfall draws out tears lays an outward sound directly over an inward disturbance, so that the mountain scene renders Genji's unsettled heart.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

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

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