Only while they hold,
the cherries on that ridge where
the storm wind is up,
do you keep your heart with them—
and how frail a thing that is

Meaning

Your heart stays with those ridge-top cherries only while the storm has not yet scattered them—and how frail a love that is.

Commentary

Part One: Wakamurasaki

　The nun answered Genji's poem with this one. A love that holds only while the blossom is at its height, she says, cannot be relied on, and she states plainly that she does not accept him as the man to whom her small granddaughter's future should be entrusted. Genji found her hard going, but kept writing, and in time began sending poems to the girl herself.

　"One no ue" is the top of a ridge, carrying the mountain-cherry image forward. "The storm wind" is what scatters blossom, used with the changeableness of the world and of human hearts folded in. "Keeping your heart with them only while they hold" says she takes his ardor for a passing thing. Taking up his words and returning them as criticism rather than compliment is exactly the position she holds throughout.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Only while they hold, the cherries on that ridge where the storm wind is up, do you keep your heart with them— and how frail a thing that is

Only while they hold,
the cherries on that ridge where
the storm wind is up,
do you keep your heart with them—
and how frail a thing that is