Even to look back
and call up what has gone by
is to find it frail;
on what, then, should I rely
for all the time still to come

Meaning

Even to look back on what has gone by is to find it frail; on what, then, should I rely for the time still to come?

Commentary

Part Three: Agemaki

　After Oigimi's death Niou came to Uji and swore that his feeling had not changed. Meeting so practised a manner, Naka no Kimi could not take it simply. Nor could she forget that it was he who had brought her sister to such distress, and a coldness shows through the reply.

　Koshikata, the time gone by, and yukusue, the time to come, are a standing pair. Hakanashi is not to be relied on. Since the past has proved untrustworthy, no promise about the future can be believed: a refusal grounded in what she has lived through. This is the point at which Naka no Kimi, having lost father and sister, begins to make her way alone.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Not to be left here, I follow with my longing the moon crossing the sky, since this is not a world where one may go on dwelling long
Wanting so to know the drug by which one may die of longing at last, shall I go into the snow of the hills and leave no trace
If you have decided that the time to come is short, then at the least, while I am here before your eyes, I would have you not turn away
Because it was for you that I have picked them through so many springs, these are the season's first bracken, unforgetful as ever

Even to look back and call up what has gone by is to find it frail; on what, then, should I rely for all the time still to come

Even to look back
and call up what has gone by
is to find it frail;
on what, then, should I rely
for all the time still to come