Gazing at the fern
that grows on eaves falling more
and more to ruin,
how thickly the dew comes down
and settles on these sleeves here

Meaning

Gazing at the fern on eaves that fall further into ruin, how thickly the dew comes down on these sleeves of mine.

Commentary

Part One: Suma

　From Hanachirusato too came a letter written as her sadness moved her. The unfamiliar hand had a freshness to it, and Genji was comforted by each of the letters he read, though they also fed his brooding. This poem was in hers. Reading it, he thought of a household with nothing but weeds to look after it, and sent word to his steward to have the place repaired.

　"Aremasaru" is falling further into ruin. "Shinobu" is the fern growing on the eaves and also the verb for longing after someone, binding a decaying house and a longing heart in one word. "Shigeku" plays the thickness of growth against the frequency of tears. "Tsuyu" is dew for tears. Overgrowth turns directly into the measure of weeping, and the life of a woman who has lost her protector is stated entirely as landscape.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Gazing at the fern that grows on eaves falling more and more to ruin, how thickly the dew comes down and settles on these sleeves here

Gazing at the fern
that grows on eaves falling more
and more to ruin,
how thickly the dew comes down
and settles on these sleeves here