How the heart is closed
and troubled with what it holds—
and there is no one
to say, well now, how is it
with you, and ask after me

Meaning

My heart is closed and troubled with what it carries, and there is no one to say "well now, how are you?" and ask after me.

Commentary

Part One: Akashi

　Given a reply written by her father, Genji wrote again. This poem went with the second letter. It was plain enough whose hand had answered, and he says how it frustrates him to have no word from the woman herself. After this she did at last take up a brush.

　"Ibuseshi" is a mind that will not clear. "Nayamu" is to be troubled, here with love. "Yayoya" is an interjection used to call out to someone—well now, hello there. "Since there is no one to ask" gives the reason. Putting a call inside the poem makes it address the silent party directly, and the intent is to push the proxy aside and get the woman's own voice.

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
If she gazes too at the same cloud-realm you gaze into, then surely the feeling in her must be the very same as your own
How much do you feel, and in what measure—well now, how is it? Should one who has not yet seen your face be troubled by what she hears?
Moon-dappled horse of this autumn night, gallop up to the cloud-realm that I long for, so that I may see it even a moment

How the heart is closed and troubled with what it holds— and there is no one to say, well now, how is it with you, and ask after me

How the heart is closed
and troubled with what it holds—
and there is no one
to say, well now, how is it
with you, and ask after me