何ゆゑか世に数ならぬ身ひとつを
憂しとも思ひかなしとも聞く
憂しとも思ひかなしとも聞く
- Roma-ji
-
Nani yue ka yo ni kazu naranu mi hitotsu o
ushi to mo omoi kanashi to mo kiku - English Translation
-
For what cause is it
that this one self of mine, which
counts for nothing here,
is thought of with bitterness
and heard of with tenderness
- Meaning
- For what cause is it that this single self of mine, which counts for nothing, should be thought of with bitterness and heard of with tenderness?
- Commentary
-
Part Two: Yugiri
The Fallen Leaf Princess answered the retired Chancellor's poem with this one. Why, she asks, should a person who counts for nothing be called either pitiable or resented—implying, without stating it, that none of this has been of her choosing. She had not asked for the position she is in: she had lost her mother, been refused permission to take vows by her father, and been overborne by Yugiri. The exchange brings that passivity into the open again.
"For what cause" asks the reason. "This one self which counts for nothing" is a way of speaking humbly of oneself. "Thought of with bitterness" takes up his resentment; "heard of with tenderness" takes up his pity. She sets his two feelings back in front of him in the same order and shows that she recognizes neither of them in herself—a firm denial inside very modest language.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Chigiri are ya kimi o kokoro ni tomeokite
aware to omou urameshi to kiku - Next Poem
-
Kazu naraba mi ni shiraremashi yo no usa o
hito no tame ni mo nurasu sode kana