Omoi araba koyoi no sora wa toitemashi mieshi ya tsuki no hikari nariken - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おもひあらば今宵の空は訪ひてまし
見えしや月の光なりけん

Roma-ji: Omoi araba koyoi no sora wa toitemashi mieshi ya tsuki no hikari nariken
English Translation: If you had a flame
of longing, it's tonight's dark sky
you'd come to visit—
was that light I saw before
only the light of the moon?
Meaning: If you truly had a flame of longing, tonight, under the rainy sky, is when you would come to me—was the light I saw that night only the light of the moon?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1495

Headnote: "Sent on a rainy night, after someone had sent me fireflies wrapped up on a bright moonlit night."
This is the thirteenth poem of the sequence on summer, and the last of the summer poems. If he had the fire of longing, the poet says, he would come on this rainy night; was the light she saw that night only moonlight? According to the headnote, someone had sent her fireflies wrapped up on a bright moonlit night, and on a rainy night she sent this in reply.
The author, "Izumi Shikibu," was the daughter of Ōe no Masamune. She became the wife of Tachibana no Michisada and was called Izumi Shikibu, later having love affairs with Prince Tametaka and Prince Atsumichi. She also served Jōtōmon'in.

In the first line, "omoi araba," "omoi" plays on "omoi," longing, and "hi," the fire of the firefly's light. Likening the sender's heart to the firefly's fire, she questions it.
The second line, "koyoi no sora wa," refers to the rainy sky tonight. It is not on a bright moonlit night but on a rainy night that he ought to come.
The third line, "toitemashi," uses the counterfactual "mashi," meaning "you would have come." She reproaches him for not coming when he surely would if he felt longing.
The fourth line, "mieshi ya tsuki no," asks a question with the particle "ya." It points to the fireflies' light seen on the moonlit night.
The last line, "hikari nariken," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "ya" with the attributive form "ken." She mocks the shallowness of his feelings: that light was not the fire of the fireflies' longing, but merely moonlight.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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