In a sky where snow
and sleet fall without a break,
the one who is gone
must be flying overhead—
and sad is that house to think

Meaning

In a sky where snow and sleet fall without a break, the one who has gone must be flying above; and her house is a sad thing to think of.

Commentary

Part One: Miotsukushi

　Rokujo no Miyasudokoro died, and Genji took charge of the funeral and all the observances. He sent constantly to the former Ise Priestess, and in time she began to answer in her own hand. On a wild day of driving snow and sleet, imagining how forlornly she must be looking at the sky, he wrote this on sky-blue paper and sent a messenger. The whole was got up with care, to catch a young woman's eye.

　"Furimidare" is snow and sleet falling in confusion. "Himanaki" is without a break. "The one who is gone" is Miyasudokoro. "Ama kakeru" is to fly through the sky, drawing on the Buddhist idea that for forty-nine days the soul stays near its former house, so that a spirit passes between this world and the air. Foul weather outside is turned into the condition of a dead woman's soul, and the pattern of speaking to someone across the sky, used since the Suma chapter, works here as well.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

In a sky where snow and sleet fall without a break, the one who is gone must be flying overhead— and sad is that house to think

In a sky where snow
and sleet fall without a break,
the one who is gone
must be flying overhead—
and sad is that house to think