That day of progress,
when the mist came down and the
morning sky was dim—
could I have seen at all clearly
the light there was in the sky?

Meaning

On that day of the progress, when the mist came down and the morning was dim, how could I have seen clearly the light there was in the sky?

Commentary

Part One: Miyuki

　The day after the progress Genji wrote to Tamakazura in the west wing: had she seen His Majesty, and had she come round at all on the matter he had raised? The letter was on white paper and made no elaborate show of feeling, which gave it its charm. She laughed—what has this to do with me?—and yet thought how well he read her. This poem was her answer, and she added that she could settle on nothing. Murasaki read it too; and Genji said that with the Empress already established, a girl presented as his own daughter could not properly enter the palace, and that no young woman who had once seen the Emperor could be indifferent. When Murasaki laughed and said that to wish for service of one's own accord would be forward, he replied that she herself would be quite carried away.

　"Uchi-kirashi" is for mist to close over the whole sky; "asa-gumori" is a clouded morning. "Miyuki" plays the progress against the snow that fell that day. "The light in the sky" is the Emperor. "Could I have seen?" is rhetorical: no, I could not. Since she had in fact been deeply struck by him, the poem conceals what she felt. Whether what was clouded was the sky or her own mind may be read either way, and there lies its skill. Knowing herself seen through, and refusing to admit it outright—the whole of Tamakazura is in these lines.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

That day of progress, when the mist came down and the morning sky was dim— could I have seen at all clearly the light there was in the sky?

That day of progress,
when the mist came down and the
morning sky was dim—
could I have seen at all clearly
the light there was in the sky?