The while it is seen
to settle there at all is
brief—for at a breath
it is scattered by the wind,
this dew on the bush clover

Meaning

The while it is seen to settle there at all is brief; at a breath the wind scatters it—this dew on the bush clover.

Commentary

Part Two: Minori

　Murasaki no Ue grew steadily worse after the summer, and the Akashi Empress came down from the palace to the Nijo residence to be with the woman who had raised her. On a windy autumn evening Murasaki, feeling a little better, leaned against her armrest and looked out at the garden. Genji was overjoyed simply to see her sitting up, and watching him she was struck by the thought of what would become of him. She spoke this poem then. Genji and the Empress each added one, so that the three of them sang together. Almost at once she failed, and at dawn she died.

　"Settle" is dew coming to rest, and the verb also sounds the word for rising, so that it means her own sitting up as well. "Brief" is what is gone in a moment. "At a breath" is at the slightest thing. "Dew on the bush clover" is what lies on the leaves, and it is her own life. Taking the garden in front of her straight into herself, she says the end of a life in one image of dew scattering, and the poem is among the best known in the tale.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

The while it is seen to settle there at all is brief—for at a breath it is scattered by the wind, this dew on the bush clover

The while it is seen
to settle there at all is
brief—for at a breath
it is scattered by the wind,
this dew on the bush clover