Today, while the court
bustles about the Feast of
Abundant Light, I
have let the day go by and
not known even the sun's light
- Meaning
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Today, while the court bustles about the Feast of Abundant Light, I have let the day go by without even knowing the sun's light.
- Commentary
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Part Two: Maboroshi
In the Eleventh Month, after the Gosechi dances, came the Feast of Abundant Light. The palace was in high spirits and the young men went to it with the festival vine on their caps. Genji could not enter into any of it, and let the day pass without so much as looking at the sunlight in the garden. He spoke this poem to himself. The man who had once danced the Blue Sea Waves and sent poems to the Gosechi dancers now heard the sounds of the occasion from far off, and the contrast tells quietly that his life is ending.
"The court" is those who serve at the palace. The Feast is held the day after the harvest rite, with the dances performed. "Bustles about" is being caught up in it. "The sun's light" also sounds the name of the vine worn on caps at that very feast. "Let the day go by" is the lament. The brightness of the palace is set against the dark of his own room, and a single pivot word ties the festival to his solitude.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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