Aki no tsuki nishi ni aru ka to mietsuru wa fukeyuku yowa no kage ni zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の月西にあるかと見えつるは
更けゆく夜はの影にぞありける

Roma-ji: Aki no tsuki nishi ni aru ka to mietsuru wa fukeyuku yowa no kage ni zo arikeru
English Translation: The autumn moon that
I thought had passed to the west,
or so it appeared,
was the light of deepening night
cast upon the water there.
Meaning: The autumn moon I thought had already sunk into the west turned out to be the moon's reflection in the deepening night.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 173

Headnote: "On a paper painting at the house of Lord Rengi, a scene of a house with a pond where the autumn moon is lovely"
What seemed to be the autumn moon already sinking into the west turned out to be the moon's light in the deepening night. Since the poem accompanied a painting of a house with a pond, it appears to sing of mistaking the moon reflected in the pond for the moon in the sky. According to the headnote, it accompanied a scene of a house with a pond under a lovely autumn moon, on a paper painting at the house of Lord Rengi, that is, Fujiwara no Yoritada.
Minamoto no Kageakira was an official and poet of the mid-Heian period; little is known of his life.

First line, "aki no tsuki," is the same as the first line of the preceding poem, continuing the sequence on the moon.
Second line, "nishi ni aru ka to," means "as if it were in the west," the thought that the moon had sunk westward.
Third line, "mietsuru wa," means "what appeared so," with "tsuru," the attributive of the perfective auxiliary "tsu."
Fourth line, "fukeyuku yowa no," means "of the deepening night."
Final line, "kage ni zo arikeru," means "was but its reflected light," with "zo" resolved by the attributive "keru." Following the preceding poem's moon rising beneath the waves, this poem too sings of mistaking the moon's reflection in the water for the moon in the sky.
Author: Minamoto no Kageakira
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Aki no tsuki nami no soko ni zo idenikeru matsuran yama no kai ya nakaran
Next Poem: Akazu nomi omohoemu o ba ikaga sen kaku koso wa mime aki no yo no tsuki