Do not, at this late
hour, let it show in your face—
that on a mountain
cherry's branch beyond your reach
you had once set your heart
- Meaning
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Do not let it show in your face now, at this late hour—that you once set your heart on a mountain cherry branch beyond your reach.
- Commentary
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Part Two: Wakana Jo
Kojiju, who served the Third Princess, answered Kashiwagi's poem in her place. The Princess could not be expected to write, so a woman of her household composed for her. He should not let such a thing show now, she says, since the branch was never within his reach—a plain refusal. Kashiwagi withdrew for the moment and could not put the feeling aside. The chapter closes on this exchange, and the tale moves on toward the next, and toward what passes between him and the Princess there.
"Let it show" is feeling appearing in the face or bearing, and the closing words of the first half are a prohibition against it. "Mountain cherry" takes up his blossom and means the Princess. "A branch beyond your reach" states the difference in rank without softening it. The reply receives his blossom and branch unchanged and cuts back on the single point of what cannot be reached; written for another, it is still exactly on target. Set at the very end of the chapter, it quietly announces the trouble of the next.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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