Seek it out I shall—
I of all men will go in
and ask after it:
the heart of old at the root
of mugwort too deep for paths

Meaning

I shall seek it out; I of all men will go in and ask after it—the unchanged heart at the root of mugwort grown too deep for any path.

Commentary

Part One: Yomogiu

　Hearing Koremitsu's report, Genji wondered how she had endured among such weeds and recognized his own coldness in never having come. Still he hesitated to go in at once; and when he thought of sending some graceful message he remembered how slow she had been to answer before, and would not keep a messenger waiting. Koremitsu said the mugwort was too wet with dew to walk through, and Genji spoke this poem almost to himself. Koremitsu then beat the dew from the grass with his riding whip and led him in.

　"I shall seek it out, I will go and ask" has the ring of a man steeling himself. "Mugwort too deep for a path" gives the chapter its name. "Moto" is the root of the plant and also the heart as it was before. The ruined garden outside becomes the very thing that has kept an unchanged heart within it, and the theme of the whole chapter is gathered into one poem.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Seek it out I shall— I of all men will go in and ask after it: the heart of old at the root of mugwort too deep for paths

Seek it out I shall—
I of all men will go in
and ask after it:
the heart of old at the root
of mugwort too deep for paths