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

Meaning

In these deep mountains where the sky has clouded over and no sunlight shows, I pass these days with a darkened heart.

Commentary

Part Three: Agemaki

　In the Eleventh Month Kaoru came to Uji and was shocked at how far Oigimi had failed. He stayed on and nursed her devotedly. Rites were said and food pressed on her to no purpose, and she weakened by the day. Soon after this poem she died with him beside her.

　Kaki kumoru is to cloud over entirely. Hikage is sunlight, and serves as a figure for hope. Kokoro o kurasu is to pass one's days with a darkened mind, with kurasu, to live out the day, sounding in it. The darkened sky outside and the darkened mind within are joined in one word, and the poem catches the very stretch of time in which hope of recovery is being cut off.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

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

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