It is not that I
think to lie down with you as
with the young grasses,
and yet I have the feeling
of something knotted within

Meaning

It is not that I think to lie down as with the young grasses, and yet I have the feeling of something knotted within me.

Commentary

Part Three: Agemaki

　Forbidden to go to Uji, Niou passed his days in the capital out of spirits. By way of diversion he sent this half joking poem to his elder sister by the same mother, the First Princess. His restlessness at being unable to move while his mind was on Naka no Kimi comes out as a joke made to someone near at hand.

　Wakakusa no is a pillow word attached to ne. Ne is both ne, to sleep, and ne, root, so that the root of the young grass and lying together are laid over each other. Musubohoru is both grasses tangling and a mind clouding over, and belongs with the grass. To name a thing and deny it in the same breath catches how little he knows what to do with himself.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

It is not that I think to lie down with you as with the young grasses, and yet I have the feeling of something knotted within

It is not that I
think to lie down with you as
with the young grasses,
and yet I have the feeling
of something knotted within