汲み初めてくやしと聞きし山の井の
浅きながらや影を見るべき
浅きながらや影を見るべき
- Roma-ji
-
Kumisomete kuyashi to kikishi yama no i no
asaki nagara ya kage o mirubeki - English Translation
-
That mountain well which,
once drawn from, is said to leave
regret behind it—
while it stays as shallow, should
one be shown a face in it
- Meaning
- That mountain well one is said to regret ever drawing from—while it stays so shallow, how should anyone be shown a reflection in it?
- Commentary
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Part One: Wakamurasaki
To the poem Genji sent the girl herself, this came back from the nun's side. She takes over the well imagery he had used and answers that with a heart so shallow he cannot be entrusted with her granddaughter. His ardor was still not granted, and the correspondence with the hills went on without moving. In time the nun came down to the capital, and her illness grew worse.
"Once drawn from" is beginning to draw water, standing for entering into a relationship. "The well one regrets" follows an old poetic conceit about drawing from a shallow spring. "To see a reflection" is a face showing on the water, and carries both meeting the girl and giving her up. The skill of the poem lies in taking every word he set up and rebuilding it into the logic of a refusal.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
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Asakayama asaku mo hito o omowanu ni
nado yama no i no kakehanaruramu - Next Poem
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Mite mo mata au yo mare naru yume no uchi ni
yagate magiruru waga mi tomogana