Pity me and let
your hand be loosened a while
if I have become
one who leaves his life and death
given over into yours
- Meaning
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Take pity and loosen your hand a while, if I have become a man who leaves his life and death in your keeping.
- Commentary
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Part Three: Takekawa
The Lieutenant answered her reply with this. The two of them then talked the night away, weeping and laughing by turns. The next day was the first of the Fourth Month, and he would send the elder sister a poem on the passing of spring.
"Te" and "ikishini" are both from go: a move on the board, and the life or death of the stones. He picks up her "makasuru" and uses it again, so that the whole exchange is conducted in the language of the game. To ask her to loosen her hand is to ask for a handicap and at the same time to ask her to stop being cold to him. He goes so far as to put his life and death in her keeping, and there his desperation reaches its pitch. From here on his poems in this chapter keep death always in view.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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