The firefly, that makes
no sound and only burns its
body quietly—
surely its fire runs deeper
than the fire of those who speak

Meaning

Surely the firefly, which makes no sound and only burns its body away, feels more deeply than those who put it into words.

Commentary

Part One: Hotaru

　This is her reply. To turn a poem over at length on such an occasion is not becoming, and having nothing to recommend her answer but its speed, she sent it off coolly and withdrew inside. The Prince complained of being kept so far off; but to sit out the night would have looked too much like a lover, and he left in the small hours, wet with the drip from the eaves. A cuckoo must surely have called, but the narrator, finding the matter tiresome, did not take note of it. The Prince's elegance, the women agreed, was very like Genji's own; and knowing nothing of what lay behind it, they said how good of Genji it had been to see to everything the night before quite like a mother.

　"Makes no sound" answers his "creature with no voice." "Burns its body" is to be consumed with longing, and it doubles as the insect's own shining. "Deeper than the fire of those who speak" sets the silent against the spoken. She does not meet his suit at all, but turns the poem into a general observation about fireflies and so slips past him. It is said to draw on an old verse: the firefly, silent and burning with its own fire, is more affecting than the insects that cry. The chapter takes its name from this poem and from Genji's trick with the lights.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

The firefly, that makes no sound and only burns its body quietly— surely its fire runs deeper than the fire of those who speak

The firefly, that makes
no sound and only burns its
body quietly—
surely its fire runs deeper
than the fire of those who speak