Ima komu to iishi bakari ni nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki o machiidetsuru kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今来むと言ひしばかりに長月の
有明の月を待ち出でつるかな

Roma-ji: Ima komu to iishi bakari ni nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki o machiidetsuru kana
English Translation: "I'll come right away,"
you said, and because of that,
through the long ninth month
till the moon of dawn appeared
I have waited on and on.
Meaning: Only because you said "I'll come right away," I waited through the long autumn nights of the ninth month, until at last I saw the pale moon rise toward dawn.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 691

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Written from the standpoint of a waiting woman, the poem tells how she trusted her lover's words "I'll come right away" and waited until the late moon that lingers into dawn finally rose. It can be read as a single night or as months of waiting, and this range of readings deepens its lingering mood.
Within the sequence on waiting, it portrays a woman left waiting after relying on her lover's words. It is widely known as poem twenty-one of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The author, "Sosei Hōshi," is Sosei. A son of Archbishop Henjō, he bore the lay name Yoshimine no Harutoshi and after taking vows lived at Urin'in and at Ryōin'in in Isonokami. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "ima komu," means "I'll come right away," the lover's words; "ku" (come) is said from the viewpoint of the one being visited and thus means "go."
The second line, "iishi bakari ni," means "only because you said so," showing that she waited on for trusting that one phrase.
The third line, "nagatsuki no," is the ninth lunar month, evoking the long nights of autumn.
The fourth line, "ariake no tsuki o," refers to the moon that remains in the sky as dawn breaks, a late-rising moon after the twentieth of the month.
The final line, "machiidetsuru kana," means "I ended up waiting until the moon came out," closing with the exclamatory "kana" on the grief that the moon came but the lover did not.
Author: Sosei
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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