Opera japonica/Japan Opera Information/Libretti 
 
The Tale of Genji
 
 
Libretto by COLIN GRAHAM
based on the books by Lady Murasaki Shikibu
for an opera in two acts by MINORU MIKI
 
Commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to commemorate the 25th Season, with support from the Driscoll Fund for Contemporary Opera
 
 
Two Notes
 
Lady Murasaki Shikibu is thought to have written The Tale of Genji over a long period c.1000 A.D. It was written in installments and this perhaps accounts for the extremely episodic form of the novel which comprises six "books" (in fifty-four chapters) of which only the first four involve Genji himself. The last two concern the story of his various offspring and how they achieve the glory that was denied him in his lifetime. The opera is based only upon these first four books: forty chapters in total of which the first seventeen contain the meat of our story. It concerns Genji's development from boy to man, from the anguished youth, deprived of his mother as a child, to the responsible adult and his realization that it is his obsession that drives everyone - Fujitsubo, Murasaki, Rokujo, Aoi and himself - to "the sadness of things".
 
Mono no aware 1
 
In The Tale of Genji the most important of all virtues, the aristocratic touchstone by which men and women at Court were ultimately measured, was essentially their sensitivity to the inherent pathos of things, especially in the traditional arts.
 
This aesthetic, known as mono-no-aware, is as difficult a term to translate as can be found. It has been variously defined:
 
"...a word frequently used in The Tale of Genji and other classical literature. Among its wide range of meanings are 'pathetic', 'moving', 'beautiful'. The phrase mono-no-aware corresponds to lacrimae rerum, 'the pity of things', which is often taken to to be the underlying theme of Murasaki's novel."2
 
"...an ejaculation of vague and undefined sadness."3
 
"...an emotional awareness. Aware has a long history, from its origins in an exclamation of admiration, surprise or delight, to its modern meaning of 'misery'. In the Heian Period its most characteristic use was to express a feeling of gentle, sorrow-tinged appreciation of transitory beauty."4 
 
1. From the Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide by William J. Puette, Charles E. Tuttle Company 1983
2. Ivan Morris, The World of the Shining Prince, Alfred A. Knopf, 1964
3. Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, tr. Edward Seidensticker, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.
4. Murasaki Shikibu, The Izumi Shikibu Diary, tr. Edward Cranston, Harvard University Press, 1969
 
 
The Characters
 
The Old Emperor and The Recluse of Akashi* (Bass)
Prince Genji, the Shining One (Baritone)
To-no-Chujo, his closest friend (Tenor)
Suzaku, the Crown Prince (Baritone)
Koremitsu, Genji's servant (Baritone)
Fujitsubo, the Emperor's favorite wife and Murasaki* (Soprano)
The Lady Rokujo, Genji's first love and The Lady of Akashi* (Soprano)
Kokiden, mother of the Crown Prince and Shonagon, Murasaki's foster-mother (Mezzo-soprano)
Aoi, Genji's wife (Mezzo-soprano)
The Boy Genji (Mute)
The Boy Suzaku (Mute)
Ryozen, officially the Emperor's son, actually the son of Fujitsubo and Genji (Mute)
Chorus of Courtiers etc S.A.T.B.
 
* These roles must be doubled
 
 
Synopsis
 
 
Act One
 
Scene 1 : The Old Emperor - the Paulownia Court
 
During a court festivity the OLD EMPEROR introduces the characters of the story, among them his favorite son, Prince GENJI, known from his childhood as "the Shining One", and the women in Genji's life: FUJITSUBO (The Emperor's favorite wife), the Lady ROKUJO (Genji's first affaire-du-coeur) and AOI, who has been his wife since they were joined as children in an official and loveless marriage.
 
Since his mother was an "unofficial wife" of the Emperor, Genji cannot succeed to the throne, much as his father would like it. He becomes notorious for his many affairs with women in each of whom he is driven to find the image of his late mother. His son by Fujitsubo (the woman who most resembles his mother and for whom he deserted the bitterly jealous Rokujo) has been accepted by the apparently ignorant Emperor as his own child. Genji's chief opponent at court is KOKIDEN, official wife of the Emperor whose son, SUZAKU, will succeed to the throne on the retirement of his venerable father.
 
Scene 2 - Fujitsubo and Rokujo
 
Genji visits both Fujitsubo, with whom he is passionately in love and who is carrying his child, and Rokujo, his first love whom he deserted for Fujitsubo. Both women spurn his advances and berate him for the philandering that brings other so much unhappiness. "The fate of woman is inconstant man."
 
Scene 3 - Genji and To-no-Chujo
and
Scene 4 - Murasaki
 
On one of his nocturnal rambles with TO-NO-CHUJO, his brother-in-law, Genji finds a young girl, MURASAKI, living in a tumble-down house in the middle of the forest with her foster-mother, the nun SHONAGON. Genji is entranced by the fact that Murasaki so closely resembles both his late mother and Fujitsubo and promises Shonagon that Murasaki will be cared for after Shonagon's death
 
Scene 5 - The Warning Dream
 
Genji's conflicting emotions begin to tell on him and he is warned about the possible results of the pain he causes others.
 
Scene 6 - The Autumn Festival
 
At the Autumn Festival, the Emperor asks Genji and To-no-Chujo to dance for him and then announces his retirement in favor of the Crown Prince, Suzaku. Another scandal is caused when Genji secretly introduces Murasaki into his household under the nose of Aoi, his estranged but loving wife.
 
Fujitsubo's baby is growing to be more and more like his real father, Genji, who refuses to understand why Fujitsubo keeps him so coldly away from her. In her shame, she insists that both herself and her child, as well as Rokujo and Aoi, are victims of Genji's selfish obsession. She also taunts him with his "unsuitable" attraction to Murasaki and is not interested in his protestations that it is because of their remarkable resemblance to each other.
 
Scene 7 - The death of Aoi
 
Genji is summoned to the bedside of Aoi who has fallen ill, weakened from childbirth and distraught by her unrequited love for her husband. She is driven to her death by the vengeful spirit of Rokujo and Genji is unable to prevent it.
 
Scene 8 - Rokujo and Genji
 
When he later reproaches her, the unwitting Rokujo is horrified to realize that her dream spirit has been responsible for Aoi's death and she resolves to go into a convent, although not without first laying a curse on Genji: if he is unfaithful to the woman he eventually marries, Rokujo's spirit will return to destroy them both.
 
Act Two
 
Scene 9 and 10 - Banishment and Farewells
 
In spite of the scandal Genji marries Murasaki. Kokiden uses this, and his infidelity to Rokujo, who has inexplicably disappeared, to insist that her son Suzaku, now the Emperor, banish Genji from court. Fujitsubo reluctantly promises she will protect Murasaki from the court during Genji's absence.
 
Scene 11 - Exile on Suma, and the Storm
 
Exiled to the distant and lonely shore of Suma, Genji and Murasaki can only sustain their love through letters. In a violent storm Genji appeals to the Gods and receives a vision of his father, the Old Emperor, who commands him to set sail immediately. The tempest wrecks the boat and Genji is rescued by an Old Recluse on the island of Akashi.
 
Scene 12, 13, 14 - The Island of Akashi / The Emperor's chambers
 
Separated for so long from Murasaki and in spite of himself, Genji seduces the Old Recluse's beautiful daughter who bears a strong resemblance to the Lady Rokujo.
 
(Scene 13) Meanwhile the Emperor Suzaku interprets the endless storms that rage on Edo as signs of the gods' displeasure at Genji's banishment. After many months of indecision he overrides Kokiden's objections and recalls Genji to the court to act as Regent to Fujitsubo's son in whose favor he will now abdicate.
 
(Scene 14) Although Genji now has a daughter by the lady of Akashi, and in spite of the lady's grief, he decides to return alone to Edo - and to Murasaki.
 
Scene 15 - Death and Farewell
 
The spirit of Rokujo now exacts the promised revenge by destroying the lives of the two women he most loves, Fujitsubo and Murasaki.
 
(Scene 16) On the eve of his glorious elevation to the Regency Genji sees his whole life pass before him and realizes it has been his own selfish desires that have caused others so much unhappiness. Burdened by his grief he takes his place in glory by the side of his son, the new Emperor.
 
 
 
The Tale of Genji
 
 
Act One
 
1 : The Old Emperor - The Paulownia Court
 
NOTE: Square brackets [ ] indicate optional cuts
 
A short Prelude: A shining, golden sunburst as,
slowly, a scene of great splendor, the Emperor's
Court, is revealed.
 
In attendance on the Emperor are FUJITSUBO,
KOKIDEN, THE BOY GENJI, THE BOY SUZAKU,
TO-NO-CHUJO and members of the Court.
 
As the Prelude ends, and the Chorus sing, the OLD
EMPEROR rises and comes slowly forward to address
the audience. The lights narrow down to focus on
him. No one else moves or pays any attention to
anything he says until indicated below: for the
Court, it is as if he had not yet moved from his
place.
 
CHORUS The sun shines down in majesty!
The sun blesses us with his power!
May he shine on us for ever
And bless us as he shines in glory!
Glory! Glory! }
 
The Emperor then speaks with a gentle irony, from
the front of the stage.
 
OLD EMPEROR I have seen many summers,
I have known many loves.
When I retire from the world
No one will know and no one will care
If I live or I die.
 
(Old Emperor) We Emperors live in the clouds
And from this exalted position
I look back on life,
And see into the hearts of those I have loved:
My spirit will guide them, protect them,
And at times trouble and disturb them.
 
Of the women I have known as my consorts,
Of them all there was one I loved most -
 
(THE BOY GENJI is seen in a spotlight)
 
At her death she bore me a son -
A son of amazing perfection:
Genji, the Shining One,
My greatest grief, my greatest joy.
 
Of Genji I tell you the tale.
 
Born of such love,
He passes his life
Seeking his mother
In every woman he loves.
 
(FUJITSUBO is seen with GENJI)
 
Then into my life
Came a vision of wonder:
Fujitsubo -
A face and a spirit
So like the mother of Genji
That I married her.
I love her -
 
And Genji loves her.
 
(KOKIDEN and THE BOY SUZAKU are seen.)
 
But as custom would have it
(As so often it does),
The wife whom I wed
When I was seven years old
Was neither so sweet nor so fair:
Kokiden, the mother of Suzaku,
My other son, and my heir.
 
(Old Emperor) So this guilty father has two sons -
One not born of love, and having none of mine,
Who must some day be Emperor -
One born of love and having all my love
Who must be nothing - were it not for my love.
 
[Recit. or spoken] Oh yes, things got off to a bad start
when the Minister of the Left was tactless
enough to offer his daughter Aoi in marriage
to The Shining One - instead, as Kokiden
expected, to her son, the Crown Prince.
To spite her I blessed the children in
marriage. This was also a mistake, since the
marriage was fated not to be blessed at all.
 
(During this paragraph, which is accompanied by
Court Music, and the following, GENJI and
SUZAKU change places ceremonially with their
BOY counterparts. During the following
passage, the mime must be arranged to present
each woman in turn.)
 
[sung] This circle of women
Spin the fate of my Genji:
The mother he lost,
Fujitsubo, who now has his love,
Aoi, whom he married too young,
And Kokiden,
A stepmother so jealous
She would paint the stars green.
 
(He returns to his place as the Chorus repeat
their song of praise, during which AOI moves
towards GENJI who only has eyes for FUJITSUBO, who
now turns away, as do KOKIDEN and SUZAKU.)
 
CHORUS Glory! Glory!
The sun shines down in majesty!
The sun blesses us with his power!
May he shine on us for ever
And bless us as he shines in glory!
Glory! Glory!
 
EMPEROR as the lights fade on the tableau and the music pauses:
 
Yes, I might have known it was all a mistake.
For there was also the Lady Rokujo.
 
(Rokujo's theme is heard and her shadow appears as
the lights fade on the EMPEROR. During a short
transitional interlude GENJI exchanges AOI for
FUJITSUBO and the scene changes to: )
 
2 : Fujitsubo and Rokujo
 
In one part of the stage FUJITSUBO and GENJI are
in her apartment while in another part the Lady
ROKUJO is pacing angrily about her house. In one
way or another she continues to exhibit this
impatience during the following exchanges between
FUJITSUBO and GENJI.
 
FUJITSUBO I cannot believe you dare to come near me.
 
GENJI I cannot believe I dare to stay away.
There is no one who draws me -
 
FUJITSUBO interrupting
No one? And what of the lady Rokujo?
And all the pitiful women you love and desert?
What of your neglected wife?
Do you know how unhappy she is?
 
GENJI You are right to accuse me
And I have no defense.
Others have come and others have gone,
But again my heart draws me only to you.
 
FUJITSUBO interrupting:
And again my shame must turn my face away.
 
GENJI Your shame?
 
FUJITSUBO Three months have passed and I can no longer hide
the burden of my sin. It bears me down so far
I can no longer look into my husband's eye,
Knowing I carry your child -
The child of the Emperor's son.
 
(GENJI moves as if to comfort her but she
continues without pausing)
 
[DUET begins:]
 
No, do not come near me -
I cannot bear your comfort,
I cannot bear your love.
 
GENJI To this my dreams have come -
 
FUJITSUBO So few the nights, so few the dreams -
BOTH I wish the dream would carry me away
Into the night.
 
GENJI To this my dreams have come -
 
FUJITSUBO If I could vanish with the dream -
GENJI in canon If I could vanish with the dream
 
BOTH My memory would still be one of shame.
 
GENJI Of love -
 
FUJITSUBO Of shame.
 
BOTH We pass all our lives upon a slender bridge
That spans the shores of sadness and delight
While Time flows on, deaf to our sorrowing hearts.
 
FUJITSUBO Go now:
I cannot bear your comfort,
 
BOTH I/you cannot bear your/my love -
 
FUJITSUBO refusing his embrace
Go now -
Must Aoi and the lady Rokujo
Know the same despair?
 
Suddenly the scene changes to ROKUJO who
immediately echoes FUJITSUBO's last word.
 
[ARIA:]
 
ROKUJO Despair!
Despair of love -
Love and shame -
The shame of love.
The shame of loving one who cannot love.
 
(Rokujo) Not shame - despair!
Despairing of a love I cannot escape.
To kill despair, must I then kill myself?
Alive or dead,
I have a spirit that will never rest.
 
Oh shame! Oh love! despair!
 
When first he came to me I was his only love,
His first and only love.
What woman can resist The Shining One?
But once she surrenders
His love turns only to contempt.
 
(ROKUJO:) Weak, widowed woman,
Blind to the separating years?
How could you fall so far,
Only to end in despair?
 
The fate of woman is inconstant man.
[Key phrase]
 
Oh love! oh shame! despair!
 
GENJI appears at her screen.
 
[In spite of Genji's lines, the following is
really a continuation of Rokujo's aria]
 
GENJI "Though I am lost in the mists of early sky
I see your gate and cannot pass you by."
 
ROKUJO cynically
"Is it so difficult to pass
This insubstantial gate of grass?"
 
(coldly) It was not always so. Why do you honor me
tonight?
Does your wife sleep so sound she does not hear
The cricket's warning bell?
Or have you tired of all the lighter ones
You love so well?
 
GENJI Though I am guilty, you do me wrong -
 
ROKUJO interrupts:
I do you wrong? I do you wrong?
 
[She resumes aria]
 
(ROKUJO) Do you know the despair -
That hunger of listening
For a voice you do not hear?
Do you know the despair
Of waiting for the dawn to close your eyes?
Can you understand the shame
Of loving one
Who gives his heart to kitchenmaids?
Can you understand a love
So painful it destroys the soul?
 
[The curse:] I warn you, Shining One,
A spirit so corrupted, so destroyed,
Must somehow find a way to peace,
Destroying all who cross its path.
 
(GENJI attempts an embrace - she repulses him)
 
ROKUJO "No, plunge into those morning mists -
You have no true heart for the blossoms here."
 
With an orchestral echo of ROKUJO's warning, the
lights fade on her and leave GENJI in
the street. This develops into a short
interlude as he broods on what ROKUJO
and FUJITSUBO have both said to him.
 
3 : Genji and To-no-Chujo
 
GENJI alone in the street - a bitter echo of
Rokujo's aria. 
 
GENJI Must I know the despair
Of searching for a love I cannot find?
Must I know the despair
Of waiting for the dawn when I am blind
To all the dreams night offers me?
Can I forget the shame
That follows tasting every flower
When the face I seek is nowhere to be found?
[Though dawn may break, my day is never clear:
Yes, "Plunge into the morning mists -
I have no true heart for the blossoms here!"]
 
(His reverie is interrupted by the arrival of
TO-NO-CHUJO, a man of charming virility and the
same age as Genji, his brother-in law. He carries
a letter from Aoi.)
 
TO-NO-CHUJO joking:
Once again I find you in the dawn -
How sad it is to find your sleeves
So wet with dew!
Is the Lady Rokujo at last so tired of waiting
That she turns you from her door?
 
GENJI My brother,
Some questions are not worth the asking.
 
TO-NO-CHUJO And don't deserve an answer?
But come, let us take shelter from the rain.
 
GENJI Why must it always rain
When our spirits are already so low?
 
(The two men turn aside into a deserted shrine.) 
 
TO-NO-CHUJO I bring you a letter from my sister Aoi
My sister, your wife -
Who sees so little of her husband.
 
GENJI taking the letter
Her letters reproach me for all my sins.
So many letters - so many sins.
Some letters I deserve
And some I keep for fonder memories.
 
TO-NO-CHUJO Now those I would like to see!
 
GENJI Some are not for seeing -
 
TO-NO-CHUJO laughing
But those are the ones I most want to see!
 
[Aria-Scherzo:]
 
Letters of passion
And letters of fire!
Letters of promise
And tormented desire!
 
Secret obsessions
And secret delights -
Tearful confessions
Of amorous nights!
Written at dusk,
Scented with musk,
Full of resentment
Or hinting consent -
Innocent maidens declaring their love,
Comparing your charms to the heavens above;
Elderly ladies exposing their charms,
Hoping to snare you in hungry old arms -
 
What is your secret?
Is it your youth?
Or is it your beauty?
Now tell me the truth -
Or is it this face of gloomy despair?
How do you do it? Say how
 
(TO-NO-CHUJO) And say where
Are those letters of passion,
Those letters of fire,
Tormented obsession
And secret desire,
The tearful confession
Of secret delights,
The hope and the promise -
Of amorous nights?
 
GENJI Are you finished?
 
TO-NO-CHUJO But why keep their letters if they cause you such
pain?
 
(During the following we see AOI, FUJITSUBO and
ROKUJO in their own areas)
 
GENJI Perhaps to remind me of the pain I have caused,
Or the beauty I seek -
 
TO-NO-CHUJO Ah, there is the difference between us:
You are always seeking perfection -
 
GENJI Are you speaking of my mother?
 
TO-NO-CHUJO No, of your wife. Her noble soul
Suffers much from your neglect -
While others bask in your perfection:-
Perfect in nature, perfect in form -
 
GENJI All you say is all I most despise.
I do not seek perfection in any woman -
How could I be worthy of her?
 
[Aria:] No, it is always one I see,
And all are reflections of her -
Sometimes only a vision in the mist -
A phantom too painful to bear.
But suppose -
 
(At this point, the three women, FUJITSUBO, AOI
and ROKUJO, with TO-NO-CHUJO, join in a quiet,
wordless backing to GENJI's aria. Or, it could be
the unseen, wordless chorus or both soloists and chorus.)
suppose there was someone -
Suppose behind some hidden gate,
Overgrown with late chrysanthemums,
Where no one knows there is a ruined house
Beside the shadows of a lake -
 
{OTHER VOICES or} TO-NO-CHUJO Suppose.....
 
GENJI Where moonbeams linger,
Loath to pass this place of wonder
That shimmers in the breeze -
Where leaves are dancing in the night -
 
{OTHER VOICES or} TO-NO-CHUJO Suppose.....
 
GENJI Suppose that here is locked away
A creature of unimagined beauty.
How could we, like the moonbeams, pass her by?
 
(The rain has stopped and now the two men resume
their walk in the moonlight as the aria continues.
The three women disappear [quick change for
FUJITSUBO] and the wordless voices give way to a
bamboo flute [fue] which is heard off-stage.)
 
After a short passage of flute music, the aria
continues without break. It is as if GENJI and
TO-NO-CHUJO did not at first hear the flute.
 
GENJI Suppose that, in the silence of the night,
Music should utter wordless charms
That pierce the soul and cause the moon
To hold its breath -
 
(He stops as he hears the music.)
 
TO-NO-CHUJO quietly
Suppose.....
GENJI Suppose.....
 
(He looks wonderingly at TO-NO-CHUJO and then
approaches the ruined house where the music plays.
TO-NO-CHUJO remains in the street and takes over
the aria.)
 
TO-NO-CHUJO Suppose....
Drawn by the music, steals closer to the house -
Suppose "SUPPOSE" seems not be "suppose"....
 
So I shall stay to see what happens next!
 
(As GENJI approaches the house the scene changes
to its interior.)
 
4 : Murasaki
 
In the shadows of the old house a single
candlelight gleams. MURASAKI is playing a sad
melody on her flute, rather well, while SHONAGON,
who is not well, is praying with an offering of flowers.
 
MURASAKI is still a child; SHONAGON, Murasaki's
grandmother, a nun of some 40 years, has a fair
delicate skin and an air of breeding and cultivation.
 
GENJI, rapt, listens to the flute and the conversation from
the veranda, peeping through the panels of a screen.
After a moment, SHONAGON turns to MURASAKI fondly.
 
SHONAGON Why are you sad tonight, my dove?
 
MURASAKI stops playing for a moment:
Because my baby sparrows flew away.
 
SHONAGON I told you, my heart,
You cannot keep birds in a cage.
 
MURASAKI Where will they go?
Will they be safe from the crows?
 
SHONAGON Murasaki, my child,
What will become of you when I'm gone?
 
(MURASAKI does not want to consider this and she
resumes playing her sad tune.)
 
GENJI outside Murasaki -
How beautiful she is!
As if Fujitsubo was still a child.
 
SHONAGON "Shall no one gather
This fairest bud of springtime?
Shall I never see
Its petals open to the day
Before the dew must fade
And vanish with the sun?"
 
(GENJI pushes one of the center panels of the
screen aside and rustles his fan. SHONAGON comes
forward and then retreats as she sees the young
prince. MURASAKI stops playing. A silence.)
 
SHONAGON This is very strange indeed!
Have you not wandered from your path, my lord?
 
(GENJI enters the room. SHONAGON retreats still
further and MURASAKI runs to hide behind her skirts.)
 
GENJI Amida Buddha's guiding hand makes no mistake,
Even on the darkest night.
 
SHONAGON Why should he guide you here?
And to this humble place
We are most confused.
 
GENJI Very sudden and confusing, I am sure.
 
(Throughout the conversation which follows he is
unable to take his eyes off MURASAKI who peeps
shyly round SHONAGON's kimono sleeves.)
 
GENJI cont. I know you think me headstrong,
Frivolous -
Amida knows I am not frivolous at all.
 
SHONAGON This unexpected conversation
Is nothing of the sort!
But how are we expected to behave
With such a - such a shining gentleman?
 
GENJI I heard you call her Murasaki -
Will you not tell me who she is?
 
SHONAGON stiff and embarrassed
Enough to tell you that her mother is dead.
Being a - natural child, and, alas, a woman,
The prince her father disowned her at her birth.
I do my best to keep her safe from harm.
 
GENJI I'm sure you do. But who...
 
SHONAGON interrupting
All I can tell you:
She is the niece of a highborn lady who -
 
GENJI Fujitsubo!
 
SHONAGON taken aback
- who does not even know she lives.
 
GENJI How can it be that such a one
Is born into the confusion of this world?
I never really knew my mother,
But her face lives on in every memory.
We share the same fate, this child and I -
Her very youth enchants me
And I ask myself -
I am asking you
To let me share my life with hers.
To love and protect her,
To bring the bud to flower in the sun.
 
SHONAGON moved but appalled by GENJI's confession, she puts her
arms round Murasaki protectively:
 
This bud is tender, not ready to be plucked -
Not ready to be dazzled by the sun.
very formal:
We must decline your very kind proposal.
 
(GENJI ignores her and reaches out his hand to
MURASAKI.)
 
GENJI Would you like to come and live with me?
 
(MURASAKI avoids his hand and quickly removes
herself to the other side of SHONAGON. Not
knowing what to say, she starts to play her flute
again. After a moment, GENJI absently plucks a
chord on a little koto [ wagon, yamata koto or
yamata koto ] that lies nearby.
A strange trio begins: GENJI, plucking chords on
the koto while trying to talk to MURASAKI who
either ignores him or answers him on the flute,
and the musings of the very disturbed SHONAGON who
sits between GENJI and MURASAKI.)
 
GENJI As in a dream I came upon a dream -
 
SHONAGON Dreams are only dreams - they come and go -
 
GENJI I long to share that dream with her.
 
SHONAGON - as insubstantial as the mist.
 
GENJI The mist might dare to linger till the day -
 
SHONAGON The day dispels the mist, reveals the truth -
 
GENJI You find my feelings so hard to understand?
 
SHONAGON is silent.
 
GENJI with a sigh
Her beauty echoes all my dreams -
determined: I long to pluck her from among the thorns!
 
SHONAGON Sir, you forget yourself.
She is too young to understand
All that is on your mind.
 
GENJI with an angry chord on the koto: (MURASAKI stops playing)
It is you who do not understand.
I see how young she is
And there is nothing on my mind
For you - or her - to fear.
 
(SHONAGON turns sadly away as MURASAKI plays
again. Softer chords now on the koto as GENJI
turns his attention back to MURASAKI.)
 
SHONAGON to herself:
I have not long to live in this sad world.
What will become of her?
 
GENJI to himself:
Though I may leave this blossom here tonight,
All of myself I leave behind with her -
 
SHONAGON (with GENJI)
Though he may leave this blossom here tonight -
 
(MURASAKI lays her head in SHONAGON's lap to