As a keepsake that
cannot ease the longing at
all, it stands before
me, clouded over with my
tears—this jeweled box of hers
- Meaning
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As a keepsake that cannot ease the longing at all, it stands before me clouded with tears—this jeweled box of hers.
- Commentary
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Part Two: Yugiri
While preparations went forward for leaving the Ono villa, there remained in the Fallen Leaf Princess's hands a jeweled box her mother had left, with the Lotus Sutra her mother had read inside it. The very thing meant to keep the dead near only made the longing worse, and she wrote this poem in tears. Before long the others prevailed on her and she moved to the Ichijo residence, where Yugiri was waiting with the air of a master of the house. She shut herself into the inner room to keep away from him.
"Cannot ease the longing" is exactly that. "Keepsake" is an object by which the dead are remembered—here her mother's box. "Clouded with tears" is not being able to see for weeping. "Jeweled box" is the fine case that held the sutra. The poem turns on the paradox that a keepsake gives no comfort, and by holding to one object in front of her it conveys the size of the loss all the better.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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