I did part my way
through the thick grasses of the
autumn field, and yet
did I ever knot the grass
into a pillow for sleep

Meaning

I did part my way through the thick grasses of the autumn field; but did I ever knot the grass into a pillow for the night?

Commentary

Part Two: Yugiri

　The Ichijo lady's letter reached Yugiri's house and was at once taken and hidden by Kumoinokari. He passed the night without seeing it, and only the next day, startled by the cicadas, did he get it back and read it. Realizing how thick the mist must lie at Ono, he wrote back in haste. This poem came with that answer. It was too late: the Ichijo lady died soon afterward, still believing he had turned away.

　"The thick grasses of the autumn field" takes up her own meadow. "Did part my way through" grants that he went. "Knot the grass into a pillow" is the traveler's makeshift bed, and it stands for a night spent together. The close is a rhetorical question: he never did. He uses her scene unchanged and denies the fact of it—an honest answer, and one that arrived after there was anyone left to read it.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

I did part my way through the thick grasses of the autumn field, and yet did I ever knot the grass into a pillow for sleep

I did part my way
through the thick grasses of the
autumn field, and yet
did I ever knot the grass
into a pillow for sleep