Madoromanu kabe ni mo hito o mitsuru kana masashikaranan haru no yo no yume - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

まどろまぬ壁にも人を見つるかな
まさしからなん春の夜の夢

Roma-ji: Madoromanu kabe ni mo hito o mitsuru kana masashikaranan haru no yo no yume
English Translation: Though I was not dozing,
through the wall I glimpsed you there—
let it come true,
this dream I have dreamed
on a night of spring
Meaning: Though I was not even dozing, I saw you through the wall. Let it be a true dream, this dream of a spring night.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems I 509

Headnote: "Minamoto no Ōki had been visiting her, but later he stopped coming; she caught a faint glimpse of Ōki through a hole in the wall next door and sent this."
The poet says that though she was not even dozing, she saw him through the wall, and wishes this spring-night dream would prove true. Likening to a dream her glimpse through a hole in the wall of a lover who had stopped visiting, she longs to meet him again.
According to the headnote, Minamoto no Ōki, who used to visit her, later stopped coming, so she caught a faint glimpse of him through a hole in the wall next door and sent this. She sings of what she glimpsed in waking life as though she had seen it in a dream.
The poet, called "Suruga," was a woman known by that name, thought to be a lady-in-waiting's sobriquet. Few details of her life have come down to us.

The first line, "Madoromanu," means "not even dozing," a waking state in which no dream should come.
The second line, "kabe ni mo hito o," means "you, even through the wall," referring to the glimpse through the hole in the wall in the headnote.
In the third line, "kana" is an exclamatory particle: "I have seen you." The poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "nan" is a particle expressing a wish directed at another: "may it prove true."
The last line, "haru no yo no yume," means "the dream of a short, fleeting spring night," closing the poem with a noun in inverted order with the fourth line.
Author: Suruga
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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