Au koto o hatsuka ni mieshi tsukikage no oboroke ni ya wa aware to wa omou - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことをはつかに見えし月影の
おぼろけにやはあはれとは思ふ

Roma-ji: Au koto o hatsuka ni mieshi tsukikage no oboroke ni ya wa aware to wa omou
English Translation: Meeting you but briefly,
as the twentieth-night moon
shows its light a while,
could my love for you be dim,
an ordinary tenderness?
Meaning: I met you only briefly, as the moon of the twentieth night shows itself for a little while; could my love for you be something dim and ordinary? No, it runs far deeper.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1256

Headnote: "Sent to the Lady of Hirohata."
This is the first poem of a sequence of love poems on the moon. You let me meet you only briefly, like the moon of the twentieth night, he says, yet my love for you is no ordinary love. According to the headnote, it was sent to the Lady of Hirohata.
The author, "Tenryaku Poem," is Emperor Murakami. A son of Emperor Daigo, his reign was praised as the Tenryaku era of good government, alongside his father's Engi era. Tenryaku is an era name of his reign, and "Tenryaku Poem" means a poem composed by Emperor Murakami. "The Lady of Hirohata" in the headnote is Minamoto no Keishi, a daughter of Minamoto no Morōakira and a lady of the bedchamber to Emperor Murakami. "Miyasudokoro" is a term for consorts and ladies who received the emperor's favor.
In the main text, the last line reads "aware to wa omou," which does not match "aware to mo omou" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.

The first line, "au koto o," means "our meeting."
In the second line, "hatsuka ni mieshi," "hatsuka" is a pivot word meaning both "briefly" and the "twentieth" night of the month. The moon of the twentieth night rises late in the night and so is a moon seen only for a short time.
The third line, "tsukikage no," is the moonlight, the form of the moon, and leads into "oboro," hazy, in the fourth line. With this line the sequence of love poems on the moon begins.
In the fourth line, "oboroke ni ya wa," "oboroke," ordinary, plays on "oboro," the hazy moon. "Ya wa" is rhetorical. Nakatsukasa's poem, 1258, also sets "oboroke" beside the moon.
The last line, "aware to wa omou," means "do I love you in an ordinary way? No." Through the imagery of the moon, he tells her that his love is all the deeper because their meeting was so brief.
Author: Emperor Murakami
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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