Longing in vain for
the friends of the world I knew
back in my old home,
I twitter on—but who is
there to tell what I would say

Meaning

Aching for the friends of the world I knew in my old home, I chatter on like a bird—but who is there to make out what I mean?

Commentary

Part One: Matsukaze

　After the nun's poem, the lady of Akashi spoke this one, as if answering her mother's mood. The forlornness of leaving the shore of Akashi, where she had lived so long, for the unfamiliar ground of Oi, and her feeling for the people left behind in that old place, run together here. It is set down as a sentiment let slip amid a life in strange surroundings.

　"Old home" is the shore of Akashi, the long-familiar place where she had lived. "The friends of the world I knew" are the old companions she had been close to there. "Saezuru" properly means the twittering of birds; here she likens her own aimless voicing of feeling to a bird's song. "Who is there to tell" states the forlorn thought that no one will make out her meaning or take in her heart. The loneliness of the new dwelling and the reluctance to leave the old ground are laid together in the poem.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Longing in vain for the friends of the world I knew back in my old home, I twitter on—but who is there to tell what I would say

Longing in vain for
the friends of the world I knew
back in my old home,
I twitter on—but who is
there to tell what I would say