Sad enough to leave
you behind and set out—and
how will it be here
in the wake the shore waves leave,
I find myself wondering
- Meaning
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It is sad enough to leave you and go; and how will it be afterward, in the wake the shore waves leave? So my thoughts run.
- Commentary
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Part One: Akashi
On the morning of departure Genji left while it was still dark, unsettled by the noise of the party come from the capital to fetch him. Still, watching for a gap when no one was looking, he sent her this poem. Her reply made him weep in spite of himself. Those who knew nothing took it for feeling at leaving a place he had lived in; only Yoshikiyo saw how attached he was, and resented it.
"Uchisutete" is leaving someone behind. "Tatsu" is to set out, and belongs also to the waves. "Uranami" is the surf in an inlet, a word carried from the Suma chapter. "Nagori" is the trace a wave leaves as it draws back, laid over what remains after he has gone. The coming and going of the surf is set directly over a human parting, and the one leaving asks after the future of the one who stays.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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