Read it through once

There were distressing scenes of farewell. It seemed unlikely that the elder sister would ever see her mother again. But Ateki took the parting much more calmly; for though Tsukushi had been her home for so long, she was by no means sorry to leave the place, and it was only when someone pointed back to the Matsura temple and Ateki scanning the quay-side recognized the very spot where she had said goodbye to her sister, that she felt at all downcast at the thought of the journey before her. ‘Swiftly we row,’ she sang; ‘the Floating Islands vanish in the mist and, pilotless as they, I quit life’s anchorage to drift amid the tempests of a world unknown.’ ‘No longer men but playthings of the wind are they who in their misery must needs take ship upon the uncertain pathways of the deep.’ So Tamakatsura replied, and in utter despair she flung herself face downward upon her seat, where she lay motionless for many hours.