Shibashi mate mada yo wa fukashi nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki wa hito madou nari - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

しばし待てまだ夜は深し長月の
有明の月は人惑ふなり

Roma-ji: Shibashi mate mada yo wa fukashi nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki wa hito madou nari
English Translation: Wait a little while,
the night is still deep and dark;
in the Ninth Month's sky
the moon of the dawning hours
is what leads people astray
Meaning: Wait a little longer—the night is still deep. The dawn moon of the Ninth Month shines so bright it leads people to mistake it for daybreak.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1182

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the sixth poem of the sequence on the feelings of the morning after. The speaker holds back the lover who is about to leave: the night is still deep, and the dawn moon of the Ninth Month leads people astray. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Fujiwara no Korenari," served closely under Emperor Kazan as Provisional Middle Controller of the Left and took holy orders himself when the emperor did.

The first line, "shibashi mate," means "wait a little," an appeal to the lover who is about to leave, with a pause after the first line.
The second line, "mada yo wa fukashi," means "the night is still deep," with another pause here. Short phrases piled one upon another convey the urgency of holding him back.
The third line, "nagatsuki no," means "of the Ninth Month." Like the headnote of 1169 of this book, it sings of the dawn moon on a night of the Ninth Month.
The fourth line, "ariake no tsuki wa," means "the moon that remains in the sky at dawn." In 1169 a man could not wait until the moon set and went home; here the speaker holds back a lover who would leave, mistaking the moonlight for dawn. With the dawn moon between them, the two poems form a reversed composition.
The last line, "hito madou nari," means "it leads people astray." Presenting the reasoning that the bright dawn moon is mistaken for daybreak, the speaker tries to delay the parting even a little. Where the preceding poem learned of dawn through tears, this one stands on the side that denies the dawn.
Author: Fujiwara no Korenari
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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