Now, it happened that ever since that regrettable incident at Fushimi I had the feeling that Akebono was drawing away from me. We had once enjoyed such a deep relationship that I might term him my first lover, and so it was not unnatural that I worried about his coolness. While I was at home I received a letter from Akebono with this poem:

Grows there an iris root
Deep as the sorrow rooted
In my heart? I search
Until my sleeves are damp. [3.14]