Narrow though it be,
this sleeve where the moonlight has
come to lodge itself,
I would hold and still watch on
a light there is no end to

Meaning

Narrow though this sleeve may be, where the moonlight has come to rest, I would keep it and go on gazing at a light I cannot tire of.

Commentary

Part One: Suma

　Genji called at the Hanachirusato house, paid his respects first to the Reikeiden Consort, and then went in to the sister in the west wing. Under a hazy moon they talked until it was nearly dawn. Hurrying away out of caution, he moved through a scene of the moon setting, and the parting was hard. Seeing the moonlight caught in the deep color of her robe, she spoke this poem, and he answered to comfort her.

　"Moonlight" figures Genji himself. "Narrow though the sleeve may be" is a modest way of speaking of her own small share of gifts and fortune. "A light one cannot tire of" is exactly that. Catching the moon in a sleeve is an old conceit, and she uses it to state her wish to keep him with great restraint—her diffidence becomes the very tone of the poem.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Narrow though it be, this sleeve where the moonlight has come to lodge itself, I would hold and still watch on a light there is no end to

Narrow though it be,
this sleeve where the moonlight has
come to lodge itself,
I would hold and still watch on
a light there is no end to