Though I set my heart
on the cloud-dwelling where the
moon lives, and follow,
shall I not still go straying
in the darkness of this world
- Meaning
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Though I set my heart on the cloudy height where the moon shines clear and follow you there, shall I not still wander in this world's darkness?
- Commentary
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Part One: Sakaki
Past the tenth of the twelfth month, on the closing day of the lectures she had sponsored, Fujitsubo declared before the Buddha that she would leave the world, to the astonishment of everyone present. The Bishop of Yokawa cut her hair, and the whole household was loud with weeping. When people had quieted, Genji came before her and, holding back his grief, sent in this poem through Omyobu. She answered, and he withdrew with a heavy heart.
"The cloud-dwelling where the moon shines clear" figures the state she has entered by taking vows. "Setting the heart on and following" is longing after. "The darkness of this world" is life bound by desire, resting on the Buddhist term for ignorance. The poem is built on the same high-and-low contrast as the enthronement scene that closed the Aoi chapter, repeated here at a taking of vows: she rises, and he is left in the dark.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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