Kumoma yori sawataru tsuki no ōhoshiku aimishi kora o mimu yoshi mogamo

雲間よりさ渡る月のおほほしく
相見し子らを見むよしもがも

Roma-ji: Kumoma yori sawataru tsuki no ōhoshiku aimishi kora o mimu yoshi mogamo
English Translation: Through gaps in the clouds
the moon goes crossing the sky;
dim and indistinct
was my meeting with the girl,
if only I could see her
Meaning: Like the moon crossing the sky through gaps in the clouds, I saw the girl only dimly; if only there were some way to see her again.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2450

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As the moon passing between clouds is seen only faintly, the speaker met the girl only for a moment, and longs for some means of seeing her again. The moon glimpsed and lost among the clouds is laid over the fleeting image of the beloved.
This poem shares the third and fourth lines, "ōhoshiku aimishi kora o," with the preceding poem, 2449. Where that poem used the clouds over Mount Kagu as its preface and foresaw a longing to come, this one uses the moon among clouds and wishes for a reunion, so that the two poems with shared lines form a pair.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kumoma yori": "through the gaps in the clouds." "Yori" marks the place passed through.
Second line, "sawataru tsuki no": "the moon crossing the sky," with "sa" a prefix that smooths the rhythm. These two lines form a preface leading to "ōhoshiku" through the image of a moon blurred between clouds.
Third line, "ōhoshiku": dim, indistinct. As in the preceding poem, it turns from the scene of the preface to the feeling of love.
Fourth line, "aimishi kora o": "the girl I met," the same line as in the preceding poem. The "ra" of "kora" is a suffix of affection.
Fifth line, "mimu yoshi mogamo": "if only there were a way to see her." "Yoshi" means a means or way, and "mogamo" is a final particle of wishing.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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