Mubatama no koyoi bakari zo akegoromo akenaba hito o yoso ni koso mime - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

むばたまの今宵ばかりぞあけ衣
あけなば人をよそにこそ見め

Roma-ji: Mubatama no koyoi bakari zo akegoromo akenaba hito o yoso ni koso mime
English Translation: Black as berries, night—
this evening only, crimson robe,
and when it is light,
dawning crimson, I shall see you
as one standing far apart
Meaning: Only tonight are we together like this; when dawn breaks, I shall see you in your crimson robe as one who stands apart from us.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1116

Headnote: "On the night when Fujiwara no Saneki, granted the fifth rank after serving as Chamberlain, was to leave the courtiers' hall the next day, on the occasion of serving him wine."
The poet says that only tonight are they together, and that when dawn breaks he will see the man in his crimson robe as one apart. Celebrating a man raised from Chamberlain to the fifth rank and leaving the courtiers' hall, he puts his regret that from tomorrow the man will be distant into the double meaning of "ake."
According to the headnote, it was composed on the night Fujiwara no Saneki, raised from Chamberlain to the fifth rank, was to leave the courtiers' hall the next day, while wine was being served. A Chamberlain of the sixth rank who was raised to the fifth customarily gave up the post and left the hall. Little is known of Saneki.
The poet, Fujiwara no Kanesuke, rose to Middle Counselor and was called the Tsutsumi Middle Counselor because his mansion stood on the bank of the Kamo River. He was the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu.

The first line, "Mubatama no," is a pillow word for words of night, here modifying "koyoi," tonight, in the second line.
The second line, "koyoi bakari zo," means "tonight only," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle whose closing word is left unsaid. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "akegoromo," means "crimson robe," the color of the robe worn by those of the fifth rank. "Ake" as the color of rank also appears in 1123 and 1124 of this book.
The fourth line, "akenaba hito o," means "when it is light, that person," overlaying the crimson "ake" of the third line with the dawning, "ake," of the night.
The last line, "yoso ni koso mime," means "I shall see as one apart," with "koso" an emphatic binding particle closed by the perfective form "me."
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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