Ariake no tsurenaku mieshi wakare yori akatsuki bakari uki mono wa nashi - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

有明のつれなく見えし別れより
暁ばかり憂きものはなし

Roma-ji: Ariake no tsurenaku mieshi wakare yori akatsuki bakari uki mono wa nashi
English Translation: Since that parting
when the moon at break of day
seemed so cold and aloof,
nothing is so bitter to me
as the hour before the dawn
Meaning: Ever since that parting, when the lingering moon of dawn looked so cold and indifferent, nothing has been as painful to me as the dark hour before daybreak.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 625

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Ever since that parting when the dawn moon looked so cold, nothing has been as painful as the hour before daybreak, the poet says. Whether it was the moon or the woman that looked indifferent has been debated since long ago, and the poem can be read as the morning of returning unmet or as the parting after a night together. Fujiwara no Teika chose it for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, and it is famed as Tadamine's masterpiece.
The author, whose name is written in kana in the text, is Mibu no Tadamine. He is said to have been a son of Mibu no Yasutsuna; though of low rank, he was one of the compilers of the Kokinshu and is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
In this book it is placed among poems of returning unmet, and it follows "if this night should turn into dawn" in the preceding poem with the pain of the hour of daybreak.

The first line, "ariake no," refers to the moon that remains in the sky at daybreak.
The second line, "tsurenaku mieshi," means "seemed cold," using shi, the attributive of the past ki; it can apply both to the moon and to the beloved.
The third line, "wakare yori," means "from the time of parting," with yori marking the starting point.
The fourth line, "akatsuki bakari," means "as much as the hour before dawn," with bakari marking degree.
The final line, "uki mono wa nashi," closes with the flat statement that nothing is more painful.
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Awazu shite koyoi akenaba haru no hi no nagaku ya hito o tsurashi to omowamu
Next Poem: Au koto no nagisa ni shi yoru nami nareba uramite nomi zo tachikaerikeru