Konu hito o matsu to wa nakute matsu yoi no fukeyuku sora no tsuki mo urameshi - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

来ぬ人を待つとはなくて待つ宵の
更けゆく空の月もうらめし

Roma-ji: Konu hito o matsu to wa nakute matsu yoi no fukeyuku sora no tsuki mo urameshi
English Translation: Not that I'm waiting
for someone who will not come,
yet waiting all night,
I find as the sky grows late
even the moon's a grievance.
Meaning: Not that I am waiting for the one who will not come, and yet I wait; as the evening sky grows late, even the moon becomes a grievance.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1283

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the topic 'Love Before the Moon,' at the Bureau of Poetry on the fifteenth night of the eighth month."
This is the twenty-eighth poem of the sequence of love poems on the moon. Not that I am waiting for the one who will not come, the speaker says, yet on this evening of waiting even the moon in the deepening sky is a grievance. Continuing from the preceding poem, it was composed on the topic "Love Before the Moon" at the Bureau of Poetry on the fifteenth night of the eighth month.
The author, "Ariie, Lord of the Court," is Fujiwara no Ariie. A son of Fujiwara no Shigeie, he was one of the compilers of the Shinkokinshū. "Lord of the Court" is an honorific added to the names of those of the fifth rank and above.

The first line, "konu hito o," means "the one who does not come."
The second line, "matsu to wa nakute," means "not that I am waiting." It shows a heart unwilling to admit it is waiting for someone known not to come.
The third line, "matsu yoi no," repeats the same word "matsu," wait. The contradiction of saying one is not waiting while waiting after all emerges through the repetition.
The fourth line, "fukeyuku sora no," takes up "fukenikeri" in the third line of the preceding poem, showing the night growing late.
In the last line, "tsuki mo urameshi," "mo" means "not only the person but even the moon." Where the preceding poem reproached the moon for rising late, here even the moon of the deepening night is a grievance, and resentment spreads to the moon itself.
Author: Fujiwara no Ariie
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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