Teru tsuki o masaki no tsuna ni yorikakete akazu wakaruru hito o tsunagan - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

照る月をまさきの綱に縒りかけて
飽かず別るる人をつながん

Roma-ji: Teru tsuki o masaki no tsuna ni yorikakete akazu wakaruru hito o tsunagan
English Translation: The shining moonlight
twisted into a rope
of masaki vine—
so I would bind the one who leaves
before we've had our fill
Meaning: I would twist the shining moonlight into a rope of masaki vine and with it bind you, who are leaving before we have had our fill of one another.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1081

Headnote: "When Lord Yukihira came to my house, the moon was lovely, so I served him wine and such, and as he was about to leave."
The poet wishes to twist the shining moonlight into a rope of masaki vine and bind the guest who is leaving before they have had their fill. With the bold conceit of treating the shafts of moonlight as rope, he turns the host's regret at parting into words of hospitality.
According to the headnote, when Ariwara no Yukihira visited Tōru's house, the moon was lovely, so Tōru served him wine, and as Yukihira was about to leave he composed this. Yukihira's reply follows in the next poem, and after 1075 and 1076 of this book, poems connected with Yukihira continue.
The poet, "the Kawara Minister of the Left," is Minamoto no Tōru. A son of Emperor Saga, he was made a commoner and rose to Minister of the Left. The name comes from his Kawara-in mansion on the riverbank at Rokujō, modeled on Shiogama in Michinoku. The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu includes his poem "Michinoku no shinobu mojizuri tare yue ni."

The first line, "Teru tsuki o," means "the shining moon," treating the moonlight itself as the stuff to be twisted.
The second line, "masaki no tsuna ni," means "into a rope of masaki vine," answered by "masaki no kazura" in the fourth line of the next poem.
The third line, "yorikakete," means "twisting and hanging," the conceit of twisting the shafts of moonlight into a rope.
The fourth line, "akazu wakaruru," means "parting before we have had our fill," with "akazu" the feeling of not being satisfied.
The last line, "hito o tsunagan," means "I would bind that person," with "n" expressing intention. It closes with "tsunagu," to bind, in keeping with the rope.
Author: Minamoto no Tōru
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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