Think of it, that we
shall look upon each other
again hereafter,
and do not let your heart be
confused by this world's dreaming
- Meaning
-
Think of it, that we shall look upon each other again hereafter, and do not let your heart be confused by the dream of this world.
- Commentary
-
Part Three: Ukifune
This stood in the last letter she sent to her mother. Knowing that they would not meet again in this world, she asks her to hold to the thought of a meeting in the next. Chujo no Kimi was the one person in Ukifune's life who valued her for herself, and that these should be the words of parting sent to her gives the poem its weight. Directly after it, Ukifune goes toward the Uji river.
Nochi ni mata is again in the life to come, the Buddhist form of a wish to meet hereafter. "The dream of this world" is the present life, fleeting as a dream. Kokoro madowade is without letting the heart be thrown into confusion. The daughter is calming the mother, the usual order reversed, and the quiet grief of the poem lies in the fact that the one about to die is the steadier of the two.
- Author
-
Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
-
Genji Monogatari
- Other
-