On Ono mountain,
where morning and evening I
lift up my voice and
weep, do these tears that never
end become a soundless fall

Meaning

On Ono mountain, where morning and evening I weep aloud, do these tears that never end become the soundless waterfall?

Commentary

Part Two: Yugiri

　Left at the Ono villa after her mother's death, the Fallen Leaf Princess saw no one and wept through her days. Letters came steadily from Yugiri and she could not bring herself to answer. This poem was among the lines she wrote out idly to herself. She wished to take vows, and her father, Suzaku, would not allow it. In time, by Yugiri's arrangement, she was brought back to the Ichijo residence against her wishes.

　"Lift up my voice and weep" is crying aloud. "Ono mountain" is the hill country there, a real place-name set down as the place her voice fills. "The soundless fall" is a waterfall famous in poetry for making no noise. "Tears that never end" are tears without limit. She weeps aloud, and the tears become a soundless fall: the poem says how grief can have no outlet, and it has the plain, unadorned sharpness that practice writing often does.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

On Ono mountain, where morning and evening I lift up my voice and weep, do these tears that never end become a soundless fall

On Ono mountain,
where morning and evening I
lift up my voice and
weep, do these tears that never
end become a soundless fall