How many times now
have I given way before
your unbroken hush,
trusting that you have not said
the words: do not speak to me
- Meaning
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How often have I been defeated by your silence, holding on to the one hope that you have never told me to be quiet.
- Commentary
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Part One: Suetsumuhana
On a night past the twentieth of the eighth month, Myobu at last let Genji through to a place near the lady's room. But she would not speak at all, and gave no sign of answering anything he said. To a woman who simply kept silent, he spoke this poem, having tried every other word he had. Still she did not reply, and her foster-sister Jiju, unable to watch any longer, answered in her place. That night Genji and the lady were joined.
"Shijima" is the state of being wholly silent, and points to how completely she says nothing. "Have been defeated" is his account of himself, drawing back each time without being able to press through. "You have not told me to be quiet" is the smallest hope available, and saying that this is all he has to go on lets his helplessness show. It is an unusual love poem, since its subject is simply that the other person will not respond.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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