where she stood, but her eyes were too misted with tears for her to see him. She leant against the wall a moment, and then went to weep in her room.
Sadder even than parting at death is parting in life, than which is nothing sadder. Ah, rare indeed is this maiden! Yet has she to share a bedquilt with her husband, yet to range her pillow by his and sleep with entwined arms. Their love was more admirable than that of a century of ordinary husbands and wives. Shino, though drawn by love, does not waver in his heart, but by being faithful to his love, maintains the proper separation between men and women. Those who wander in the maze of the passions show insufficient wisdom and a lack of discrimination. Few of all the many young people who have once approached the brink have escaped being drowned. But here we have a case of a righteous husband and a chaste wife. Hamaji’s love was not one of pleasures and lust. Shino’s sighs were of sorrow, and not of weakness. Hamaji’s love is still to be sought; men like Shino are rarer than ever.
Translated by Donald Keene
