Of your own accord
you turned away and left this
lodging in the grass,
and still the bell cricket's voice
has not grown old in the least

Meaning

Of your own accord you turned away from this lodging in the grass, and still the bell cricket's voice has not grown old at all.

Commentary

Part Two: Suzumushi

　Genji answered the Third Princess's poem with this one. For one who left the world of her own will, he says, she keeps a good deal of her heart for a cricket's voice—her own words handed back with a light push. At the same time it implies that her voice and her looks are as fine as they ever were. Soon afterward Prince Hyobu and Yugiri arrived, instruments were brought out, and the night at Rokujo turned unexpectedly brilliant.

　"Of your own accord" is by one's own will. "This lodging in the grass" is a rough temporary dwelling—the world we live in, and also the grass where the insects are. "Turned away" is to shun, that is, to take vows. "Has not grown old" takes up her "shake off" and keeps the shaking of a bell in play as an associated word. Using the same words and turning their sense is the ordinary business of an exchange, and he does it neatly.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Of your own accord you turned away and left this lodging in the grass, and still the bell cricket's voice has not grown old in the least

Of your own accord
you turned away and left this
lodging in the grass,
and still the bell cricket's voice
has not grown old in the least