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

Meaning

You cranes crossing up there near the clouds, look down from the sky: I am as free of cloud as a spring day.

Commentary

Part One: Suma

　The sun climbed and the Consultant had to hurry away. Watching him go, looking back again and again, was harder than the visit had been worth. When he asked when they might meet again, Genji answered with this poem. He went on to say that even the wise men of old had found it hard to return to the world once they had withdrawn, and that he did not expect to see the capital again.

　"Cranes crossing near the clouds" are those in high place at court. "Look down from the sky" claims that from above his innocence would be plain. "As free of cloud as a spring day" states that innocence directly. He uses the form of an appeal to heaven for vindication, and the words that follow show a complicated mind: he leans on the hope and expects nothing from it.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

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

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