Komoriku no Hatsuse no yama ni teru tsuki wa michikake shikeri hito no tsune naki

こもりくの泊瀬の山に照る月は
満ち欠けしけり人の常なき

Roma-ji: Komoriku no Hatsuse no yama ni teru tsuki wa michikake shikeri hito no tsune naki
English Translation: Hidden in the hills,
on the mountain of Hatsuse
the shining moon
has waxed and waned again—
as human life is never constant
Meaning: The moon that shines over the hills of Hatsuse has waxed and waned—just as human life is never constant.
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1270

Headnote: "Thoughts Expressed through Things"
Watching the moon over the hills of Hatsuse wax and wane, the poet reflects on the transience of human life. The changes of the moon are laid over the changes of human life, and its frailty is sung with quiet feeling.
It is the one poem under the heading "Thoughts Expressed through Things." Hatsuse had long been a place of burial, fitting for thoughts of transience. Following the foam on the water in the preceding poem, it sees impermanence in the waxing and waning of the moon. The left note says, "The one poem above comes from the Old Poetry Collection." The poet is unknown.

The first line, "Hidden in the hills," is the pillow word "komoriku no," meaning a place enclosed by mountains, which modifies Hatsuse.
The second line names the hills of Hatsuse in Yamato.
The third line, "the shining moon," refers to the moon shining there.
In the fourth line, "keri" is exclamatory, "has waxed and waned again," and the poem pauses here.
The final line, "as human life is never constant," lays the moon's changes over human impermanence by inversion.
Source: Manyoshu
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