Not having had my
fill, I part from this dwelling
of the geese and go—
shall I lose my way upon
the road to the flowered town

Meaning

Having had nothing like my fill, I leave this land of the geese—shall I lose my way on the road to the city of flowers?

Commentary

Part One: Suma

　The Consultant answered Genji's poem with this one, saying he had no wish at all to go. Afterward gifts of taste were prepared for the capital, and Genji gave him a black horse in return. Wary of being noticed, they exchanged nothing else beyond a famous flute.

　"Aka naku ni" is without having had enough. "The land of the geese" takes up the word used in the retainers' poems and here means Suma. "The city of flowers" is the capital, set against it. That the man who is returning speaks of losing his way turns the journey home into a reluctance to part rather than a pleasure, and the warmth of his character shows in it.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

With no season to it, I long for the people of the great palace, and now the day has come round when we wore the cherry sprays
In what spring shall I go and look upon the home I came from once more— the ones I envy are these wild geese that are going back
You cranes that fly and cross up there so near the clouds, look down from the sky: I am a man as free of cloud as a day in springtime
In a cloud-realm with nothing to take hold of, I cry out here alone, longing all the while for the friend whose wing lay beside mine

Not having had my fill, I part from this dwelling of the geese and go— shall I lose my way upon the road to the flowered town

Not having had my
fill, I part from this dwelling
of the geese and go—
shall I lose my way upon
the road to the flowered town