Kimi ya komu ware ya yukamu no isayoi ni maki no itado mo sasazu nenikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君や来む我や行かむのいさよひに
真木の板戸もささず寝にけり

Roma-ji: Kimi ya komu ware ya yukamu no isayoi ni maki no itado mo sasazu nenikeri
English Translation: "Will you come to me,
or shall I go?" I wavered,
by the waning moon,
and with the cedar door unbarred
I fell asleep at last.
Meaning: Wavering between "Will you come?" and "Shall I go?", I lay hesitating under the sixteenth-night moon, and fell asleep without even barring my cedar door.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 690

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Hesitating between waiting for the lover to come and going out to him, the speaker falls asleep without even shutting the door. Making "isayoi" mean both hesitation and the moon of the sixteenth night, the poem overlays love's frustration with a moonlit scene.
Part of the sequence on waiting that follows the preceding poem, it depicts a heart torn between waiting and going. The door left unbarred still holds the hope that the lover will come.

The first line, "kimi ya komu," means "will you come?", the particle "ya" and the conjectural "mu" guessing at the lover's visit.
The second line, "ware ya yukamu no," means "or shall I go?", forming a parallel with the first line and showing a heart swaying between two thoughts.
The third line, "isayoi ni," is a pivot word joining "isayou" (to hesitate) and "isayoi," the moon of the sixteenth night of the lunar month.
The fourth line, "maki no itado mo," refers to a plank door of fine timber such as cedar or cypress, with the particle "mo" attached.
The final line, "sasazu nenikeri," means "I fell asleep without barring it," closing with the perfective "nu" and the exclamatory "keri."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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