Hito shirezu sonata o shinobu kokoro o ba katabuku tsuki ni tagutete zo yaru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

人知れずそなたを偲ぶ心をば
傾く月にたぐへてぞやる

Roma-ji: Hito shirezu sonata o shinobu kokoro o ba katabuku tsuki ni tagutete zo yaru
English Translation: Unknown to others,
this heart that yearns toward
where you are now,
I send along with the moon
as it sinks toward the west.
Meaning: My heart, secretly yearning toward where you are, I send along with the moon as it sinks westward.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1785

Headnote: "Sent when the former Bishop Zenshin was in the western provinces."
This is the fifth of the poems on the heart through the moon. He sends his heart, secretly yearning toward where the other is, along with the moon as it sinks westward. According to the headnote, he sent it when the former Bishop Zenshin was in the western provinces, entrusting to the westering moon his thoughts of one in the west.
The author, "Prince-Priest Shōnin," was a son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa and became Tendai abbot.

The first line, "hito shirezu," means "unknown to others, in secret."
The second line, "sonata o shinobu," means "yearning toward where you are." "Sonata" is the direction of the western provinces where the other is.
The third line, "kokoro o ba," means "that heart." "O ba" singles it out strongly.
The fourth line, "katabuku tsuki ni," means "with the moon sinking westward." The west where the moon sets is laid over the western provinces where the other is.
The last line, "tagutete zo yaru," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "yaru." The conceit of sending his heart with the moon closes the thoughts entrusted to the moon in the preceding poems.
Author: Prince-Priest Shōnin
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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