Parted now from the
two-leafed pine whose years reach far
ahead, when shall I
ever come to look upon
the high-grown form it will take?
- Meaning
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Parted from the two-leafed pine whose years stretch far ahead, when shall I ever see the tall-grown form it will become?
- Commentary
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Part One: Usugumo
When the snow had melted a little, Genji came to Oi to fetch the child. Akashi no Kimi, who usually longed for his visits, felt her heart break this time at the thought of the child being taken away. The child, all innocence, hurried to get into the carriage. To the drawn-up carriage the mother came out carrying her herself. When the child, in her sweet broken speech, caught her mother's sleeve and tugged, saying "get in," it was more than she could bear, and she spoke this poem. Unable to finish it, she wept so hard that Genji answered to console her.
"Sue tooki" is with a long future. "The two-leafed pine" is a pine just sprouted, standing for the small child; the pine, a tree of long life, is chosen as the emblem of a child yet to grow. "Hikiwakare" is to be pulled apart, echoing the child tugging at her sleeve. "The high-grown form" is the tall pine, the grown daughter she longs to see. Setting the young pine against the grown one, she grieves that if they part now, when will she see it grow—the sorrow of a mother who cannot herself watch over her child's future.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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