Sunk in the great sea
and fallen into grief here,
like the leech-child who
could not stand upon his legs,
I have let the years go by

Meaning

Sunk in the great sea and brought low, like the leech-child who could not stand on his legs, I have let the years pass.

Commentary

Part One: Akashi

　Back in the capital and raised to Provisional Grand Counselor, Genji was summoned to court. The Suzaku Emperor came out in robes chosen with particular care, and their quiet talk went on into the night. Under a still fifteenth-night moon, when the Emperor remarked that it had been long since they made music together or heard the old pieces, Genji offered this poem. The Emperor received it with feeling and with shame, and answered.

　"Watatsu umi" is the great sea. "Uraburu" is to be brought low, to lose heart. "The leech-child" is the child born to Izanagi and Izanami who, being imperfect, was set adrift in a reed boat. Genji lays that myth over his own case: a brother sent away. As an appeal to a sovereign it goes remarkably far, and two years and more of exile are gathered into the phrase about legs that would not hold.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Sunk in the great sea and fallen into grief here, like the leech-child who could not stand upon his legs, I have let the years go by

Sunk in the great sea
and fallen into grief here,
like the leech-child who
could not stand upon his legs,
I have let the years go by