When shall I again
look on the flowers of the
capital in spring,
being now a mountain man
who has lost his hour at last
- Meaning
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When shall I see the flowers of the spring capital again, now that I am a mountain rustic whose season has passed?
- Commentary
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Part One: Suma
Home at full daylight, Genji sent his farewell to the Heir Apparent through Omyobu. The poem was tied to a branch of cherry with the last blossoms on it. The child took it gravely and said to tell him that if a few days apart made him miss Genji so, how much more would distance. Omyobu found the frailty of the answer painful.
"The flowers of the spring capital" are the cherries of the city, and the splendor of the court with them. "Toki ushinaeru" is to have lost one's season, one's moment—his fall from favor. "Yamagatsu" is a rustic of the hills, standing for the life ahead at Suma. Capital flowers against a mountain rustic hold the whole descent in a single poem, and the gesture of tying it to a cherry branch answers the same figure.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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