Let us make it now,
a promise for beyond this
world as well: never
let the heart come between us,
like dew set as beads on lotus

Meaning

Let us promise it now, for beyond this world as well: that nothing shall come between our hearts, like dew set as beads upon the lotus leaves.

Commentary

Part Two: Wakana Ge

　Genji answered Murasaki no Ue's poem with this one. Against her saying how little life holds, he brings up a bond that runs past this world into the next and tries to keep her with it. But what she had been asking for was leave to take vows, and that he would not give. Even in this exchange the two of them want different things. Not long afterward he went to look in on the Third Princess at Rokujo, and there he found Kashiwagi's letter.

　"Let us make it now" is setting a promise down in advance. "Beyond this world as well" takes in the life to come. "Dew set as beads on lotus" carries her own lotus dew straight over. Behind it lies the belief that those bound to one another are reborn on the same lotus in paradise, so that dew, which had stood for what does not last, is turned into an emblem of what lasts forever. Using the same scene and reversing what it means is the standard move of the exchange, and he makes it well.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Let us make it now, a promise for beyond this world as well: never let the heart come between us, like dew set as beads on lotus

Let us make it now,
a promise for beyond this
world as well: never
let the heart come between us,
like dew set as beads on lotus