In a dark of heart
that will never find an end
I am left in gloom,
seeing her go where the clouds
dwell, so far above me now
- Meaning
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In a darkness of heart that will never end, everything goes dim before me—only the more so for seeing her up there among the clouds.
- Commentary
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Part One: Momiji no Ga
In the seventh month Fujitsubo was raised to Empress and Genji promoted to Consultant. The Emperor was contemplating abdication, and wished to secure the position of the young prince's mother, who had no one else to support him. On the night she first entered the palace as Empress, Genji served in her train; but Fujitsubo, inside her palanquin, had become more unreachable than ever. It was then that he murmured this poem to himself. The chapter closes with it.
"Darkness of heart" is the loss of judgment that longing brings, and follows an old poetic usage. "Kumoi" means the high place where the clouds are, and so the palace, standing for Fujitsubo now raised to the highest rank. The poem is built on a contrast of high and low—the further she rises, the deeper he sinks into the dark—so that a scene of advancement is written entirely as a scene of loss. It closes the chapter with Genji still carrying the heaviest secret of his life.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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