In a world of dew
that will not stay a moment
in the autumn wind,
who could see it as a thing
of the grass blades alone

Meaning

In a world of dew that will not stay a moment in the autumn wind, who could take it for a thing of the grass blades alone?

Commentary

Part Two: Minori

　After Murasaki no Ue's poem and Genji's, the Akashi Empress closed the set with this one. The frailty of dew, she says, is not confined to the grass; it is the same for everyone—a gentle attempt to comfort the woman who had raised her. The three of them made so fine a sight that Genji wished they might go on like this for a thousand years, though a life is not in anyone's keeping. Soon Murasaki had the curtain drawn to and lay down, and with the Empress holding her hand she died at daybreak.

　"Autumn wind" is the wind that scatters the dew. "Will not stay a moment" is how briefly it holds. "A world of dew" is the phrase carried over from the two poems before. "A thing of the grass blades alone" is limited by the particle so that the line becomes a question with only one answer. Where the first two poems spoke of one life, this one opens impermanence out to everyone, which is what the last poem of a set should do.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

In a world of dew that will not stay a moment in the autumn wind, who could see it as a thing of the grass blades alone

In a world of dew
that will not stay a moment
in the autumn wind,
who could see it as a thing
of the grass blades alone