"The Hahaki-gi[50] distant tree
Spreads broom-like o'er the silent waste;
Approach, how changed its shape we see,
In vain we try its shade to taste."
The lady was unable to sleep, and her thoughts also took the following poetic shape:—
Too like the Hahaki-gi tree,
Lonely and humble, I must dwell,
Nor dare to give a thought to thee,
But only sigh a long farewell.
All the other inmates of the house were now in a sound slumber, but sleep came not to Genji's eyes. He did, indeed, admire her immovable and chaste nature, but this only drew his heart more towards her. He was agitated. At one moment he cried, "Well, then!" at another, "However!" "Still!" At last, turning to the boy, he passionately exclaimed, "Lead me to her at once!"
Kokimi calmly replied, "It is impossible, too many eyes are around us!"
Genji with a sigh then threw himself back on the cushion, saying to Kokimi, "You, at least, will be my friend, and shall share my apartment!"
FOOTNOTES:
[22] A hero of an older fiction, who is represented as the perfect ideal of a gallant.
[23] A fast observed when some remarkable or supernatural event took place, or on the anniversary of days of domestic misfortune.
[24] A general of the Imperial Guards.