Tanomenu ni kimi ku ya to matsu yoi no ma no fukeyukade tada akenamashikaba - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

頼めぬに君来やと待つ宵の間の
更けゆかでただ明けなましかば

Roma-ji: Tanomenu ni kimi ku ya to matsu yoi no ma no fukeyukade tada akenamashikaba
English Translation: Though you made no promise,
waiting, wondering if you'd come
in the evening hours—
if only, without growing late,
the night had simply dawned
Meaning: Though you never promised, I wait in the early evening, wondering whether you will come—if only the night, without growing late, had simply turned to dawn.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1205

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem."
This is the ninth poem of the sequence on nights spent waiting for one who does not come. Though the lover made no promise, the speaker waits in the early evening, wishing that the night had simply dawned without growing late. According to the headnote, it was composed as a love poem.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," was named Satō Norikiyo in lay life and served as a guard of the North Quarter under Retired Emperor Toba, but took holy orders in his youth and became a poet-monk. He traveled through many provinces and left a great number of poems.

The first line, "tanomenu ni," means "though you made no promise." Where "tanomezu wa" in 1197 of this book presupposed a promise, this poem sings of waiting without one. It is a correspondence in which the presence of a promise is reversed.
The second line, "kimi ku ya to matsu," means "waiting, wondering if you will come." Like "kimi matsu to" in the preceding poem, it states the waiting heart directly.
The third line, "yoi no ma no," means "of the early evening," the hours when hope still remains.
The fourth line, "fukeyukade," means "without growing late." Like "itaku na fukeso" in the preceding poem, which begged the moon to stop the night from deepening, it is a heart that dreads the night's growing late.
The last line, "tada akenamashikaba," means "if only it had simply dawned." "Mashikaba" is counterfactual, and the poem breaks off here, leaving a lingering resonance. Since the deepening night would make it certain the lover will not come, the speaker wishes it had dawned while still the hopeful early evening, showing the twisted heart of one who waits.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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