Tsukuyo yomi imo ni awamu to tadachi kara ware wa kitsuredo yo zo fukenikeru

月夜よみ妹に逢はむと直道から
我れは来つれど夜ぞ更けにける

Roma-ji: Tsukuyo yomi imo ni awamu to tadachi kara ware wa kitsuredo yo zo fukenikeru
English Translation: The moonlit night fair,
thinking I would meet my girl,
by the straightest road
I have come here, and yet
the night has grown deep and late
Meaning: The moonlit night was so fine that I took the straightest road to come and meet my beloved, and yet the night has already grown late.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2618

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Because the moonlit night was fine, he took the shortest road to meet his beloved, yet by the time he arrived the night had grown late: this is a love poem. In plain words it conveys both the eagerness of a man who hurried, longing only to meet her, and his regret at arriving late all the same.
This poem is the last in the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"; with the next poem begin the poems "Expressing Feelings through Things." Following the preceding poem, 2617, in which a woman laments, "who is holding you back?", this poem, in which a man hurries but finds the night grown late, is placed so as almost to answer her question.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "tsukuyo yomi": "because the moonlit night was fine." "Tsukuyo" is a bright moonlit night, and "yomi" is the stem of the adjective "yoshi" with the suffix "mi," giving a reason. The bright moon lit his way to his beloved.
Second line, "imo ni awamu to": "thinking to meet my beloved." "Mu" expresses intention and "to" marks a quotation, showing what the man had in mind.
Third line, "tadachi kara": "by the straight road." "Kara" marks the route taken, showing how he hurried to arrive even a little sooner.
Fourth line, "ware wa kitsuredo": "I came, and yet." "Tsure" is the perfective form of the auxiliary "tsu," and the concessive particle "do" turns toward the futility of his haste.
Fifth line, "yo zo fukenikeru": "the night has grown late." The emphatic particle "zo" is answered by "keru," the attributive form of the exclamatory auxiliary "keri," in a kakari-musubi construction, expressing his regret at being too late.
Source: Manyoshu
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