The feeling of the
deep night I could make out, yes—
but could I have played
as though to put on my face
what the strings might say for me

Meaning

The feeling of the deep night I could make out; but could I have played as though to put on my face what the strings might say?

Commentary

Part Two: Yokobue

　The Fallen Leaf Princess answered Yugiri's poem with this one. She grants the beauty of an autumn night and denies that she played to show anything, turning aside his attempt to make something of Sofuren. Her reticence moved him the more, and his visits to the Ichijo residence went on. That night, as he was leaving, her mother gave him the flute that Kashiwagi had loved.

　"The feeling of the deep night" is the mood of the late hours. "Make out" is to hear and distinguish. "What the strings might say" carries, as his poem did, both the koto and the act of speaking. The closing is a rhetorical question: she could not have played so. Taking his pivot word unchanged and using it to deny his reading, the reply is modest and exactly to the point.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

The feeling of the deep night I could make out, yes— but could I have played as though to put on my face what the strings might say for me

The feeling of the
deep night I could make out, yes—
but could I have played
as though to put on my face
what the strings might say for me