Kurehateba tsuki mo matsubeshi ominaeshi ame yamete to wa omowazaranan - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

暮れ果てば月も待つべし女郎花
雨やめてとは思はざらなん

Roma-ji: Kurehateba tsuki mo matsubeshi ominaeshi ame yamete to wa omowazaranan
English Translation: When the day is done,
you may as well wait for the moon,
O maiden flower—
but "until the rain has stopped,"
that, I beg, you must not think
Meaning: If night has fully fallen, you may as well wait for the moon—but, for the sake of the maiden flowers, do not think of waiting till the rain stops.
Commentary: Book Six Autumn Poems II 294

Headnote: "Around the middle ten days of the Eighth Month, on a day of drizzling rain, he sent Fujiwara no Morotada out to the fields to dig up maiden flowers, and when he was late returning, sent him this."
The poet says that if night falls completely, one may as well wait for the moon, but one should not think of waiting until the rain stops. Urging back the man sent out to dig maiden flowers who has not returned, he teases him for being captivated by the flowers.
According to the headnote, around the middle of the Eighth Month, on a day of drizzling rain, he sent Fujiwara no Morotada out to the fields to dig up maiden flowers, and when he was slow to come back, sent him this.
The poet, called "the Minister of the Left," is Fujiwara no Saneyori. The eldest son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadahira, he was Minister of the Left when the Gosen Wakashū was compiled. He later rose to Regent and Grand Minister and was called the Lord of Ononomiya.

In the first line, "ba" gives a hypothetical condition: "if it grows fully dark."
In the second line, "beshi" expresses what is fitting: "you may as well wait for the moon." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "ominaeshi," calls out to the maiden flower while teasing the man who, drawn by the flowers, has not come back.
The fourth line, "ame yamete to wa," means "until the rain stops," taking up the drizzle of the headnote.
In the last line, "nan" is a particle of wish directed at another: "do not think so." Like "shiranan," the last line of the preceding poem, it closes with a wish addressed to another.
Author: Fujiwara no Saneyori
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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