His words were in vain; she remained as she was and merely shook her head. "Having gone this far, it doesn't matter any longer. If my parents waken to find me here and reprove me for it, i too shall have something to say. I will not move from here unless I hear you say that you want me to go with you. Otherwise, kill me." Weak as is a women's will, hers was firmly set and would not alter.
Shino was quite at a loss. A note of irritation came into his voice, althoug he still kept it low. "You still do not understand, as long as we remain alive a time will surely come when we can meet. How can death be the proper state for a man? If you interfere with me, now that I have this rare chance of winning success granted to me by my aunt and uncle, you are not my wife. Perhaps you are an enemy from a previous existence."
Hamaji sank deeper in tears. "There is nothing I can do when you make me feel that if I obtain my heart's desire I shall become your enemy. If my thoughts are really selfish, I shall put them aside and remain here. May your journey be a safe ne. be careful lest, these terrible hot days, you get a sunstroke on the way. In the winter months when the wind blows down the northern mountains, send me messages about yourself with the wind. I shall think only of the fact that you are alive and safe. If the weakening thread of my life should break, now will be our parting for this existence, and all I shall have to depend upon is the yet unseen world to come. Our ties are certain to endure through both worlds. Please never change your heart." Thus she spoke of uncertainties; however wise her prayers may have seemed, the heart of this innocent maiden was pitiful.
Shino in spite of himself also fell downcast, and unable to comfort her could only nod. There was nothing else for him to say. Just then, the first cock-crow announced the dawn, and Shino, pulling himself together, said, "In a few moments your parents will waken. Hurry! Hurry!"
Hamaji at last got up and recited the poem.

Yo mo akeba -Now that dawn has come,
Kitsu ni hamenan -Perhaps the fox will eat,
Kudakake no -Those cursed roosters,
Madaki ni nakite -Crowing in the early morn,
Sena wo yaritsutsu -Chasing you away from me.

*Quoted from The Tales of Ise, about a traveler in the north of Japan who spends one night with a country girl and then leaves her.*

That poem was inspired by the casual love of a traveler, but now is the moment of seperation with a departing husband. if the cocks do not crow the sky will not grow light; if the dawn does not come, no one will waken. Oh, hateful crowing of the cock! For us only are there no nights of meeting-between us stands an unyielding barrier. even the moon at dawn brings only sorrow.
As she murmurd these words, about to leave, there was a cough outside the door and a faint rapping on the door. "The cocks have crowed, are you not awake yet?" It was his servant who called him. Shino hastily answered and the man withdrew to the kitchen. "Quickly, before he returns!" Shino said, pushing her out. Hamaji, her eyelids swollen from weeping, looked back from the darkness where she stood, but her eyes were to 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 his pillow by his and sleep with entwined arms. Their love was more admirable than that of a centurary of ordinary husbands and wives. Shino, though drawn by love, maintains the proper seperation between men and women. Those who wander in the maze of passions show insuficient wisdom and a lack of discremination. 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

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