Why now, all anew,
should I let myself be seen?
A change of heart, they
say, is a thing that befalls
other people's lives—not mine.

Meaning

Why now, all over again, should I let you see me? A change of heart, they say, is a thing that befalls others' lives—but not mine.

Commentary

Part One: Asagao

　The lady Asagao answered Genji's "this heart that never learned" with this poem. I cannot, all anew now, meet you on intimate terms, she replies; a change of heart, I hear, befalls the lives of ordinary people, but I am not able to change from what I was. It shows the lady's constant bearing, still firmly refusing, even now that she has left the priesthood, to enter into a man-and-woman tie with Genji. After this exchange, Genji has no choice but to withdraw with nothing gained, and the lady turns her heart the more to her devotions before the Buddha.

　"All anew" means afresh, at this late point. "Why should I be seen" is a rhetorical question: why would I meet you?—no, I would not. "In others' lives" is: in the lives of ordinary people. "Kakari" is "such a thing occurs," pointing to the "change of heart" that follows. "They say" is: so I hear. Though a change of heart is said to befall others, she says, she cannot alter the bearing she has held from of old—and so refuses his suit. Against his plea of her "coldness," she returns her own unchanging heart.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Why now, all anew, should I let myself be seen? A change of heart, they say, is a thing that befalls other people's lives—not mine.

Why now, all anew,
should I let myself be seen?
A change of heart, they
say, is a thing that befalls
other people's lives—not mine.