I cannot dam back
even my tears within these
narrow sleeves of mine—
how should one such as I am
hold back a parting as well
- Meaning
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I cannot dam back even my tears within these narrow sleeves; how should one such as I am hold back a parting too?
- Commentary
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Part Three: Ukifune
Ukifune's reply. She cannot stop even her tears, she says, and still less has she the power to keep a man from going. Her position as the stepdaughter of a provincial governor, in which nothing is hers to decide, is simply what the poem says. Niou left Uji with his mind still on her, and Ukifune, left behind, was tormented by her guilt toward Kaoru.
"Narrow sleeves" are small and poor sleeves, standing at once for low rank and for powerlessness. Sekikanu is to be unable to dam a thing. Todomu is to hold back, and seku and todomu, both words for stopping a flow, hold the poem together. She states only this one thing—that neither her tears nor the parting is in her hands—and her passive character comes through it plainly.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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