Meguriaite mishi ya sore to mo wakanu ma ni kumogakurenishi yowa no tsukikage - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

めぐり逢ひて見しやそれとも分かぬ間に
雲隠れにし夜半の月影

Roma-ji: Meguriaite mishi ya sore to mo wakanu ma ni kumogakurenishi yowa no tsukikage
English Translation: Meeting once again,
before I could even tell
if it was you I saw,
you had hidden in the clouds,
like the moon at dead of night.
Meaning: We met again at last, but before I could even tell whether it was really you I saw, you vanished like the midnight moon hiding behind the clouds.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1499

Headnote: "When someone who had been my friend from early on met me again after many years, only briefly, and around the tenth of the seventh month went home as if racing the moon."
This is the first poem of the sequence on the moon. Though they met again at last, before she could tell whether it was really her friend, the friend was gone like the midnight moon hidden by clouds. According to the headnote, she met a childhood friend again after many years but only briefly, and around the tenth of the seventh month the friend went home as if racing the moon.
The author, "Murasaki Shikibu," was the daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki. She became the wife of Fujiwara no Nobutaka and later served Jōtōmon'in. She is the author of The Tale of Genji.
This poem is also included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, though there its last line reads "yowa no tsuki kana."

The first line, "meguriaite," is hypermetric and refers to meeting again after a long time. "Meguru," to circle, is an associated word of the moon, overlapping with the moon's circling in the sky.
The second line, "mishi ya sore to mo," means "whether it was you I saw." The particle "ya" shows the question.
The third line, "wakanu ma ni," means "before I could tell," expressing how short the meeting was.
The fourth line, "kumogakurenishi," is the moon's hiding behind clouds, a figure for the friend's quick departure.
The last line, "yowa no tsukikage," ends on a noun. Likening the friend to the midnight moon and taking up "racing the moon" in the headnote, it regrets the one who left as if competing with the moon. From here, poems on the moon continue at length.
Author: Murasaki Shikibu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Aki ya kuru tsuyu ya magau to omou made aru wa namida no furu ni zo arikeru
Next Poem: Tsukikage no yama no ha wakete kakurenaba somuku ukiyo o ware ya nagamen