However it may be,
the water among the rocks
is bound fast and still—
and I see nothing here that could
hold me, or keep me either

Meaning

However it may be, the water among the rocks is bound fast; and I can see nothing in this world that would hold me here either.

Commentary

Part One: Makibashira

　This is Moku's reply, after which she said, "Well, well," and wept. The carriages were brought out and the party left the house; and the mistress, keeping her eyes even on the treetops, looked back until she could see no more. Not because it was the house of one she loved, the narrator ends—but how should a dwelling of so many years not be remembered?

　"Water among the rocks" takes up the other's "water among the stones," and is said to sound "iwazu," unspoken. "Musubohore" carries at once the cupping of water in the hand, the binding of ice, and the closing of the heart. "Kaketomu," to hold fast, plays on "kage," the reflection, and answers the other's "kakehanaru." The woman who was envied replies that she too is no longer looked at, and cannot imagine remaining—so that neither the one who goes nor the one who stays has anything to hope for. Carrying every one of the water words forward, the exchange sounds like the house itself coming apart.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

However it may be, the water among the rocks is bound fast and still— and I see nothing here that could hold me, or keep me either

However it may be,
the water among the rocks
is bound fast and still—
and I see nothing here that could
hold me, or keep me either