Sara ni mata kure o tanome to akenikeri tsuki wa tsurenaki aki no yo no sora

English Translation

Yet once more it says
look for me at dusk, and then
the day has broken
the moon is indifferent
and the sky of autumn's night

Meaning

As if to say, wait for me again at dusk, the day has broken; and the moon takes no notice, in the sky of an autumn night.

Commentary

Book Four Autumn Poems I 434

Headnote: for the contest in fifteen hundred rounds.
The poem takes the moon's going with the daybreak. The headnote assigns it to the contest in fifteen hundred rounds.
The poet, given by his court title, is Minamoto no Michiteru, a son of the Inner Minister Minamoto no Michichika, who later rose to Chancellor. This is his fourth appearance in this book, after the four hundred and twelfth poem.
The time is daybreak in autumn; no place is given.
The occasion was submission to the contest.

The first line means: once again, on top of that, implying that the night before was the same.
The verb in the second line means to give another cause to expect something, used in the three hundred and seventy-fifth, seventy-sixth and four hundred and eighth poems of this book: as if to say, wait for the evening again. A quotative particle follows.
An exclamatory auxiliary in the third line marks the recognition that the day has broken.
The adjective in the fourth line means unconcerned, taking no notice, used of the moon in the two hundred and ninth, thirty-fifth and fifty-ninth poems of this book.
The poem closes on a noun. The moon does the same thing every night and only the watcher is kept waiting. Tadatsune's four hundred and twenty-first poem had the night break while he waited; this one carries the waiting over into the next day.

Author

Minamoto no Michiteru

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other