Has autumn come now
as near to me as all this?
While I watched, even
the hills that were green with leaves
have gone and changed their colors

Meaning

Has autumn come so close to me as this? While I watched, even the green-leaved hills went and changed their color.

Commentary

Part Two: Wakana Jo

　Ever since the Third Princess came, Murasaki no Ue had kept what she felt to herself. Autumn came, and looking out at the garden turning color she spoke this poem to Genji. There is not a word of reproach in it, and yet, on the pretext of the season, it asks whether his heart has changed. He answered at once denying it, but nothing was cleared away, and her wish to leave the world went on quietly deepening.

　"As near to me" means that autumn has reached her own person rather than someone else's. "Autumn" puns on the word for having had enough, so that she asks whether he has tired of her. "The hills that were green with leaves" are what should not change and has changed. To speak only of the garden and let the doubt carry is exactly her way: oblique, and never off the point.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Has autumn come now as near to me as all this? While I watched, even the hills that were green with leaves have gone and changed their colors

Has autumn come now
as near to me as all this?
While I watched, even
the hills that were green with leaves
have gone and changed their colors