もろともにおきゐし菊の白露も
一人袂にかかる秋かな
一人袂にかかる秋かな
- Roma-ji
-
Morotomo ni okiishi kiku no shiratsuyu mo
hitori tamoto ni kakaru aki kana - English Translation
-
The white dew on the
chrysanthemums we used to
sit up and set out
together falls this autumn
onto one sleeve, and alone
- Meaning
- The white dew on the chrysanthemums we used to sit up and set out together falls this autumn onto one sleeve alone.
- Commentary
-
Part Two: Maboroshi
The ninth of the Ninth Month came round. On that day it was the custom to cover the chrysanthemums the night before with floss silk, so the scent and dew passed into it, and in the morning to wipe oneself with the silk for long life. He and Murasaki no Ue had once sat up together to lay the silk and wait for morning. This year he did it alone, and spoke this poem to himself. Each observance brings her absence home again, and in the following month comes the poem that gives the chapter its name.
"Together" is the two of them. "Sit up" carries the verb for dew settling, and so also the act of laying the silk on the flowers. "White dew on the chrysanthemums" belongs to the festival. "Onto one sleeve" has dew for tears. One image of dew is made to say both what they had and what he has now, and the details of the observance are the frame of the poem.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Hito kouru waga mi mo sue ni nariyukedo
nokori ōkaru namida narikeri - Next Poem
-
Ōzora o kayou maboroshi yume ni dani
miekonu tama no yukue tazune yo