If only the haze
did not stand between the moon
and the flowering boughs,
the bird upon its roost would
open its throat and sing

Meaning

If only the haze did not stand between the moon and the flowers, the bird on its roost would open its throat and sing.

Commentary

Part One: Umegae

　This is the Lesser Captain's poem. He was the one who as a boy had sung "Takasago" at the rhyme-covering contest, and he was known for his voice; that evening he beat time and sang "The Branch of Plum," and it was that voice the Prince had likened to a warbler's. In the poems the birds sing before dawn; but in fact, the narrator notes in passing, the Prince did not leave until morning.

　"Kasumi" is the spring haze about the moon, taking up the hazy moon of that night. "Standing between the moon and the flowers" is the haze cutting off the light: without it the blossoms would be brightly lit. "The bird upon its roost" comes straight from Kashiwagi's poem. "Hokorobu" is for a bud to open, and hence for a bird to break into song. To name the bird's voice with the word for a flower is the point of it—an apt close to a sequence that has passed warbler, roost, and flower from hand to hand all evening. That the voice in question is his own, said modestly by way of a bird, is a pleasant touch.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

If only the haze did not stand between the moon and the flowering boughs, the bird upon its roost would open its throat and sing

If only the haze
did not stand between the moon
and the flowering boughs,
the bird upon its roost would
open its throat and sing