The plovers at the
water's edge, where the frost bites
cold, cannot bear it,
and the sound of their crying
is sad in the growing light

Meaning

The plovers at the water's edge, where the frost bites cold, cannot bear it, and their crying is sad in the growing light.

Commentary

Part Three: Agemaki

　Kaoru sent this to Naka no Kimi on a winter visit to Uji. He is thinking of her, left uneasy by the break in Niou's visits, and means to stand by her in her sister's place. By this time Oigimi had already taken to her bed, and Kaoru's days were soon given over to nursing her.

　Shimo sayuru is frost at its most bitter. The plover is the winter bird of the water's edge, and its flocking cry stands for loneliness. Uchiwabu is to find a thing hard to bear. Naku, to cry, carries naku, to weep. The winter scene on the Uji river is set down, and in being set down states exactly how matters stand with the sisters.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

It is the same sky that the two of us look on, and yet, why is it, this winter rain that adds to not knowing how you may be
Here in the deep hills, where the hail comes down, morning and evening alike, the sky that I look upon goes on darkening over
The plover that shakes the frost of daybreak from its wings and cries aloud— does it know, then, what is in the heart of one who is grieving
In these deep mountains where the sky has clouded over and no sunlight shows, these are days in which I pass the hours with a darkened heart

The plovers at the water's edge, where the frost bites cold, cannot bear it, and the sound of their crying is sad in the growing light

The plovers at the
water's edge, where the frost bites
cold, cannot bear it,
and the sound of their crying
is sad in the growing light