Even to hear of
how it goes with human life
leaves me wet with dew,
and I think of the sleeve of
the one who is left behind

Meaning

Merely hearing how it goes with human life leaves me wet with dew, and my thoughts go to the sleeve of the one left behind.

Commentary

Part One: Aoi

　As autumn deepened and Genji lay awake through a night of unaccustomed solitude, a letter arrived one misty morning, tied to a chrysanthemum branch. Written on deep blue-grey paper, it was in Rokujo no Miyasudokoro's hand. Reading this poem he thought the writing finer than ever, and yet could not help finding condolence from her hollow. After long hesitation over whether to answer at all, he sent a reply.

　"Human life" names the frailty of things without naming the death directly. "Tsuyukeshi," being close to tears, answers the morning mist as well. "The sleeve left behind" is Genji himself, and the poem keeps exactly the form of condolence owed to the bereaved. But to a man who knows what happened at the sickbed, so faultless a message can only cut. That there is nothing to object to in the poem is what makes the scene so heavy.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Even to hear of how it goes with human life leaves me wet with dew, and I think of the sleeve of the one who is left behind

Even to hear of
how it goes with human life
leaves me wet with dew,
and I think of the sleeve of
the one who is left behind