Ever since I heard
that one cry of the young crane,
the boat that labors
among the reeds cannot bear
how hard the going has grown

Meaning

Ever since I heard that one cry of the young crane, I have been like a boat caught among the reeds, unable to go on and unable to bear it.

Commentary

Part One: Wakamurasaki

　Late in autumn, hearing that the nun had come down to the capital and lay ill in a run-down house near Rokujo Kyogoku, Genji went to call on her in secret. His wish to take the girl had not changed, and he meant to press it again. This poem was spoken to the nun then. Her illness was far advanced; she could not give him any real answer, and soon afterward she died.

　"The young crane" figures the girl, the crane being also a symbol of long life, so that a wish for her future is folded in. "A boat laboring among the reeds" is an old figure for being unable to make headway. Crane, reeds, and boat hold the poem together in a single waterside scene, so that the awkward matter of courting a child is kept inside a quiet landscape.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Ever since I heard that one cry of the young crane, the boat that labors among the reeds cannot bear how hard the going has grown

Ever since I heard
that one cry of the young crane,
the boat that labors
among the reeds cannot bear
how hard the going has grown