Kaku dani mo imo o machinamu sayo fukete idekoshi tsuki no katabuku made ni

かくだにも妹を待ちなむさ夜更けて
出で来し月のかたぶくまでに

Roma-ji: Kaku dani mo imo o machinamu sayo fukete idekoshi tsuki no katabuku made ni
English Translation: Even if just so,
I will wait for you, my love,
until the moon that
rose when the night had deepened
sinks low toward the west
Meaning: Even if only like this, I will wait for my beloved, until the moon that rose when the night had grown late leans low in the sky.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2820

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Questions and Answers"
At least in this way the speaker will wait for his beloved, until the moon that rose late in the night begins to sink: this is a man's poem. The single-minded resolve to keep waiting all night for someone slow to come is drawn through the moon's movement, with the passing of time.
This is a question-and-answer poem, paired with the next by the left note "the two poems above." The next poem replies that while lingering, loath to leave the moonlight moving among the trees, the night grew late, taking up this poem's "sayo fukete" and its moon. The one who waits until the moon sinks and the one who lets the night grow late cherishing the moon face each other beneath the same moon.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "kaku dani mo": "at least in this way." "Dani" expresses a minimal wish, meaning that even if they cannot meet, the speaker will at least wait.
Second line, "imo o machinamu": "I will wait for my beloved." "Na" is the irrealis form of the perfective "nu," adding emphasis, and "mu" expresses intention. "Imo" is a man's word for his love, showing that this is a man's poem. A pause falls after the second line.
Third line, "sayo fukete": "the night growing late." "Sa" is a prefix smoothing the rhythm, and the same phrase appears in the last line of the next poem, "sayo fukenikeri."
Fourth line, "idekoshi tsuki no": "of the moon that came out." "Shi" is the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," referring to a moon that rose after the night had deepened.
Fifth line, "katabuku made ni": "until it sinks." It expresses the resolve to go on waiting until the moon leans westward, and in inverted order it supplies afterward the limit of "machinamu" in the second line.
Source: Manyoshu
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