To look at it now
only rots my sleeves the more
with the tears they take—
this yamato pink beside
a fence gone all to ruin

Meaning

Looking at it now only rots my sleeves the more with tears—this yamato pink beside a fence fallen to ruin.

Commentary

Part One: Aoi

　Omiya, who had been weeping at every stir of wind, could not hold back and answered with this poem. To her grief for her daughter is added the fact that the sight of the child left behind only deepens it. Afterward Genji wrote to the Asagao princess as well, and when night fell he sat talking with the women of the household.

　"Nakanaka" means rather, on the contrary, and sets up the paradox that what should console instead deepens the grief. "Kutasu" is to weep until the sleeves rot. "A fence gone to ruin" figures a household that has lost its mistress, taking up his "brushwood fence." "Yamato pink" likewise returns his own word. She takes over every term of the exchange and uses them to deny the very logic of consolation by keepsake.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

To look at it now only rots my sleeves the more with the tears they take— this yamato pink beside a fence gone all to ruin

To look at it now
only rots my sleeves the more
with the tears they take—
this yamato pink beside
a fence gone all to ruin