ややもせば消えをあらそふ露の世に
後れ先だつほど経ずもがな
後れ先だつほど経ずもがな
- Roma-ji
-
Yaya mo seba kie o arasou tsuyu no yo ni
okure sakidatsu hodo hezu mogana - English Translation
-
In a dewdrop world
where at a breath they vie with
one another to go,
let no time at all pass between
the one who stays and the one who goes
- Meaning
- In this dewdrop world, where at a breath they vie with one another to be gone, let no time pass between the one who stays and the one who goes.
- Commentary
-
Part Two: Minori
Genji followed Murasaki no Ue's poem with this one. If the world is dew, he says, then let them at least not be parted—let neither be left behind. It is the state of a man facing a parting he can no longer put off. When she died he would not leave her side for anything, and Yugiri had to take charge of the funeral. This set of poems is the last time the two of them speak to one another.
"At a breath" takes up her own phrase. "Vie with one another to go" is dewdrops disappearing one after another. "A dewdrop world" is this life, no more lasting than dew. "The one who stays and the one who goes" is being left behind and going first. "Let no time at all pass" is the wish. Carrying her dew straight over and turning it toward a wish that the two of them go together, the poem keeps the etiquette of a reply and is urgent underneath it.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
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Oku to miru hodo zo hakanaki tomo sureba
kaze ni midaruru hagi no uwatsuyu - Next Poem
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Akikaze ni shibashi tomaranu tsuyu no yo o
tare ka kusaba no ue to nomi mimu