25

That objectionable nephew of Kokiden's had made Genji wonder what people really thought of him. Life at court was more and more trying. Days went by and he did not get off a note to Oborozukiyo. The late-autumn skies warned of the approach of winter rains. A note came from her, whatever she may have meant by thus taking the initiative:

“Anxious, restless days. A gust of wind,

And yet another, bringing no word from you.”

It was a melancholy season. He was touched that she should have ventured to write. Asking the messenger to wait, he selected a particularly fine bit of paper from a supply he kept in a cabinet and then turned to selecting brush and ink. All very suggestive, thought the women. Who might the lady be?

“I had grown thoroughly weary of a one-sided correspondence, and now—'So long it has been that you have been waiting too?'*

“Deceive yourself not into thinking them autumn showers,

The tears I weep in hopeless longing to see you.

“Let our thoughts of each other drive the dismal rains from our minds.”

One may imagine that she was not the only lady who tried to move him, but his answers to the others were polite and perfunctory.