Yama no ha ni isayou tsuki o idemu ka to machitsutsu oru ni yo zo fukenikeru

山の端にいさよふ月を出でむかと
待ちつつ居るに夜ぞ更けにける

Roma-ji: Yama no ha ni isayou tsuki o idemu ka to machitsutsu oru ni yo zo fukenikeru
English Translation: On the mountain's rim
the moon lingers, hesitant;
"Will it rise now?"
so I sat on, waiting long,
and the night has grown so late
Meaning: The moon lingers hesitating on the mountain's rim; as I sat waiting, wondering whether it would rise at last, the night grew late.
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1071

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the Moon"
This poem tells how the night grew late while the poet waited for a moon that would not come out from behind the mountain's rim. It simply conveys both the longing for moonrise and a sigh over time slipping away in vain.
It shares its first two lines with poem 1084 in this book, "On the mountain's rim the moon lingers—how long must I sit waiting while the night grows late," and poems on the same theme are thus set together within the moon group. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "On the mountain's rim," refers to the ridge line where the moon will appear. It is identical to the first line of poem 1084.
In the second line, "the moon lingers, hesitant," "isayou" means to hesitate and hold back, personifying the moon that is slow to rise. This line too is shared with poem 1084.
The third line, "Will it rise now?" adds the question particle "ka" to the conjectural "mu," showing a waiting heart torn between hope and impatience.
In the fourth line, "so I sat on, waiting long," the particle "tsutsu" expresses continuation, describing how long the poet has kept waiting.
The final line, "and the night has grown so late," is a kakari-musubi construction in which the particle "zo" is answered by the attributive "keru." The perfective "ni" and the exclamatory "keri" convey the realization that the night has already grown late. It corresponds to the last line of poem 1084, "while the night grows late."
Source: Manyoshu
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