Mizutori o mizu no ue to ya yoso ni mimu ware mo ukitaru yo o sugushitsutsu - Murasaki Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

水鳥を水の上とやよそに見む
われも浮きたる世を過ぐしつつ

Roma-ji: Mizutori o mizu no ue to ya yoso ni mimu ware mo ukitaru yo o sugushitsutsu
English Translation: These waterbirds—
how can I see them as strangers
upon the water,
when I too pass my days afloat
in a world of drifting sorrow?
Meaning: How can I look upon the waterbirds as creatures apart, merely playing upon the water? I too pass my days adrift in a restless, sorrowful world.
Commentary: 18 Watching the Waterbirds

In the tenth month of Kankō 5 (1008), as Emperor Ichijō's visit to the Tsuchimikado mansion drew near, Michinaga had the grounds polished ever more finely. Splendid chrysanthemums were sought out and planted, and the view of them through gaps in the morning mist seemed enough to drive old age away. Yet whenever Murasaki saw or heard something auspicious or delightful, she was drawn all the more strongly toward the thoughts that weighed on her heart, and she suffered as unexpected sorrows multiplied. When dawn broke she would sit lost in thought, watching the waterbirds on the pond play together as if without a care.
The imperial visit was made so that Emperor Ichijō could meet his newborn son, Prince Atsuhira, and it took place on the sixteenth day of the tenth month.
Amid a household astir with preparations for the splendid visit, she alone carried an unlifting gloom, and seeing her own self in the carefree birds moved her to compose this poem.
Afterward she reflects that though the birds seem to play so contentedly, their own existence must be painful indeed. The loneliness and melancholy deepening within the glittering court life lead on to her later reflections.
The poem was included in the Winter section of the Senzai Wakashū as Murasaki Shikibu's work.

The opening lines regard the waterbirds as creatures merely floating and playing on the water, and with the rhetorical particle the third line closes as a question that expects denial: can I look on them as strangers? No, I cannot.
In the lower verses, "afloat" carries both the floating of the birds on the water and "uki," a world of sorrow, while the continuative ending leaves the lingering sense that she too goes on living in an unsettled, grieving world. Set in a mansion brightening toward the imperial visit, the poem looks at both the birds and herself and sees elegance outside and pain within, a fine expression of Murasaki's inward gaze.
Author: Murasaki Shikibu
Source: Murasaki Shikibu Nikki
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