Shiotaruru ama no koromo ni kotonare ya - Genji Monogatari(English Translation & Meaning)

塩垂るる海人の衣に異なれや
浮きたる波に濡るるわが袖

Roma-ji: Shiotaruru ama no koromo ni kotonare ya
ukitaru nami ni nururu waga sode
English Translation: What is there to set
it apart from the nun's robe
where the salt drops fall—
this sleeve of mine, wet through by
waves that have nothing to hold
Meaning: What is there to set it apart from the nun's robe where the salt drops fall—this sleeve of mine, soaked by waves with nothing to hold to?
Commentary: Part Three: Sawarabi

　Naka no Kimi's reply to Ben's poem. It is not only the one left behind who grieves, she says: she who is going up to the capital is wet through with the same unsteadiness. On the seventh of the Second Month she was received at the Nijo residence and was treated by Niou with great care, but at this point she had no confidence yet in what her position in the capital would be. That uneasiness stands plainly in the second half of the poem.

　"The nun's robe where the salt drops fall" takes over Ben's own words. Kotonare ya is a rhetorical question: there is no difference. Ukitaru is floating on the water, and carries uki, wretched, for a future that will not settle. Answering technique with technique, she sets sympathy beside her own fear, and one sees that unsteadiness, not joy at going up to the capital, comes first with her.
Author: Murasaki Shikibu
Source: Genji Monogatari
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Shiotaruru ama no koromo ni kotonare ya ukitaru nami ni nururu waga sode

Shiotaruru ama no koromo ni kotonare ya
ukitaru nami ni nururu waga sode