If you would but come,
I would cut and feed it to
your familiar horse,
even though the under-leaf
is past the height of its prime

Meaning

If only you would come, I would cut it and feed your accustomed horse—though the lower leaves are well past their prime.

Commentary

Part One: Momiji no Ga

　Naishi no Suke of the Minamoto was an elderly officer of the palace, faultless in learning and in birth, but famous for an appetite for love that ill suited her years. Amused by the talk, Genji made advances half in jest. Conscious of her age and yet pleased by his attention, she spoke this poem as an invitation. He answered, and their comic exchanges began. In time To no Chujo learned of the affair.

　"Your accustomed horse" is a horse one is used to riding, standing for a man who visits regularly. The "lower leaves" are the leaves near the ground, figuring herself past her prime. She admits her age and invites him all the same, so that self-deprecation and solicitation sit together. The construction is sound and draws on older conceits, showing real cultivation—cultivation put to a comic use, which is exactly how this character is drawn.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

If you would but come, I would cut and feed it to your familiar horse, even though the under-leaf is past the height of its prime

If you would but come,
I would cut and feed it to
your familiar horse,
even though the under-leaf
is past the height of its prime