There is no bound at
all to the tears of longing
for her—and today,
what is it that they are calling
the end of, after all this

Meaning

There is no bound at all to the tears of longing for her; and today—what is it they are calling the end of?

Commentary

Part Two: Maboroshi

　On the fourteenth of the Eighth Month came the first anniversary of Murasaki no Ue's death. The service was held on a grand scale; Genji copied out sutras and saw to the offerings. To come out of mourning means, formally, that grief has reached a stopping place. For the women who served her nothing had stopped. Chujo no Kimi sent Genji this poem that day. He answered that his own life was short and his tears were not. The anniversary passed and his mourning did not end at all.

　"Her" is Murasaki no Ue. "No bound at all" is without limit. "Today" is the day of the anniversary. "The end of" refers to the lifting of formal mourning. The poem sets an institutional stopping point against a heart that has none, and it puts its finger exactly on the gap between the two. There is real feeling in it, from someone who served her a long time.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

There is no bound at all to the tears of longing for her—and today, what is it that they are calling the end of, after all this

There is no bound at
all to the tears of longing
for her—and today,
what is it that they are calling
the end of, after all this