80. Lady Horikawa, in Attendance on the Dowager Empress Taiken: Taiken Mon-in Horikawa
80
LADY HORIKAWA, IN ATTENDANCE ON THE DOWAGER EMPRESS TAIKEN
TAIKEN MON-IN HORIKAWA
Nagakaran
Kokoro mo shirazu
Kuro kami no
Midarete kesa wa
Mono wo koso omoe.
Kokoro mo shirazu
Kuro kami no
Midarete kesa wa
Mono wo koso omoe.
MY doubt about his constancy
Is difficult to bear;
Tangled this morning are my thoughts,
As is my long black hair.
I wonder—Does he care?
Lady Horikawa was the daughter of the First Adviser of State, Sane-kyo, who lived about the year 1142. In this verse she is anxiously pondering, how long her lover will continue to be true to her; and she discovers, that her ideas on the subject are as tangled and disordered as her hair is.