These altered sleeves are
the lodging that the dew takes,
and beyond even
that, this body of mine has
nowhere at all to be set

Meaning

My altered sleeves are the lodging the dew takes; beyond that, this body of mine has nowhere at all to rest.

Commentary

Part Three: Shiigamoto

　Oigimi's reply to Kaoru's condolence. She conveys the helplessness of two sisters who have lost the one who stood behind them, in the figure of dew that has nowhere to settle. Kaoru saw her quality in the answer, and his feeling grew beyond the promise of guardianship.

　The altered sleeves take up the mourning dress of his poem. Tsuyu no yadori is the place where dew is set, meaning sleeves soaked with tears. Okidokoro nashi uses oku, to settle, which belongs with dew, and turns it into having nowhere to put oneself. Following the words that belong with dew, a poem of condolence deepens into a lament over her own condition.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

The call of a deer that has lost its companion in the morning mist— could anyone hear it as one hears the ordinary?
Seeing how the low reeds have altered in colour, I think of your sleeves, and how they must be worn thin in the dark dye of mourning
In the reach of sky where the autumn mist will not clear, all the more now they tell us, as they cry, that this world is a borrowed one
Since you went from us and the steep path by the rocks fell into disuse, with what mind am I to look on the snow upon the pines

These altered sleeves are the lodging that the dew takes, and beyond even that, this body of mine has nowhere at all to be set

These altered sleeves are
the lodging that the dew takes,
and beyond even
that, this body of mine has
nowhere at all to be set