It is only right
that water-weed should gather
in the god's still water—
but today's own ornament,
and you forget its very name

Meaning

It is only right that water-weed should gather in the god's still water; but today's ornament—and you have forgotten even its name.

Commentary

Part Two: Maboroshi

　In the Fourth Month came the Kamo festival. The world was out with heartvine in its hair, and Genji stayed inside his curtains and went nowhere. The gentlewoman Chujo no Kimi picked up a sprig of the plant, and when Genji asked what it was called she sent him this poem. She had served Murasaki no Ue and now waited on Genji himself. He answered with a jest that lightened the room a little, and nothing in him lifted.

　"It is only right" concedes the point. "The god's still water" is water set out for offerings, and the phrase says how long it has gone untouched. "Water-weed should gather" marks the passage of years. "Ornament" is what is worn in the hair or on a cap, here the festival's heartvine. "Forgotten even its name" is exactly that. Framed as a reproach for his not coming, the poem takes the day's actual conversation straight into verse, and it has wit.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

It is only right that water-weed should gather in the god's still water— but today's own ornament, and you forget its very name

It is only right
that water-weed should gather
in the god's still water—
but today's own ornament,
and you forget its very name