Weary with gazing
into a cloud-realm where I
know neither far nor
near, I ask after the trees
of the house they hinted at

Meaning

Weary of gazing into a cloud-realm where I can tell neither far from near, I come asking after the treetops of the house you hinted at.

Commentary

Part One: Akashi

　Having heard the novice out, Genji took the opening and sent a letter to the house on the hillside. It pricked him a little that Yoshikiyo had long had hopes there, but he took up his brush to see how matters stood. This poem went with that first letter. The daughter would not so much as pick it up, and her father composed the reply in her place.

　"Ochikochi" is far and near, that is, no sense of direction or distance. "Kumoi" is the cloudy sky, used in earlier chapters for the capital and for heights out of reach. "Nagamewabi" is to gaze and grow weary with longing. "The house that was hinted at" takes up the novice's words. "Asking after the treetops" is an indirect way of calling on someone without saying so.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Weary with gazing into a cloud-realm where I know neither far nor near, I ask after the trees of the house they hinted at

Weary with gazing
into a cloud-realm where I
know neither far nor
near, I ask after the trees
of the house they hinted at