Ika ni shite sode ni hikari no yadoruran kumoi no tsuki wa hedateteshi mi o - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかにして袖に光の宿るらん
雲居の月は隔ててし身を

Roma-ji: Ika ni shite sode ni hikari no yadoruran kumoi no tsuki wa hedateteshi mi o
English Translation: How can it be, then,
that the light comes to lodge
upon my wet sleeves—
I, whom the moon above the clouds
has kept so far away?
Meaning: How can it be that the moonlight lodges on my sleeves, when I am one set far apart from the moon above the palace clouds?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1510

Headnote: "When I presented a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Sutoku."
This is the second poem of the sequence recalling the past through the moon. The poet asks how moonlight can lodge on his sleeves when he is set far apart from the moon of the palace. According to the headnote, it was composed when he presented a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Sutoku.
The author, "Master of the Empress Dowager's Household Shunzei," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. He was the son of Fujiwara no Toshitada and the father of Teika. He served as Master of the Empress Dowager's Household and took the tonsure in Angen 2 (1176). He compiled the Senzai Wakashū. No author's name is given in the text; the poem follows the author of the preceding poem.
The hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku refers to the Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequences, completed in Kyūan 6 (1150).

The first line, "ika ni shite," means "how," first presenting the question.
The second line, "sode ni hikari no," refers to the moonlight reflected on sleeves wet with tears.
The third line, "yadoruran," uses the present conjectural "ran," meaning "does it lodge?" The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "kumoi no tsuki wa," like "kumoi no tsuki no," the fourth line of the preceding poem, refers to the moon of the palace. Here again he looks up to Sutoku, whose abdication the preceding poem regretted, as the moon above the clouds.
The last line, "hedateteshi mi o," means "though I am one set far apart," placing the reason in the last lines in inverted order. Though far from the retired emperor, moonlight lodges on his tearful sleeves, expressing gratitude for the retired emperor's grace.
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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