Nagamuru ni mono omou koto no nagusamu wa tsuki wa ukiyo no hoka yori ya yuku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

眺むるに物思ふ事の慰むは
月は憂き世の外よりや行く

Roma-ji: Nagamuru ni mono omou koto no nagusamu wa tsuki wa ukiyo no hoka yori ya yuku
English Translation: That when I gaze out,
the cares that I brood upon
find their consolation,
is it that the moon travels
beyond this world of sorrow?
Meaning: When I gaze at the moon, my brooding cares are soothed. Is it because the moon travels by a path beyond this sorrowful world?
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 434

Headnote: "When I had been left behind by my wife, on seeing the moon"
The poet asks whether his cares are soothed while gazing at the moon because the moon travels by a path beyond this sorrowful world. The headnote shows he wrote it on seeing the moon amid grief after his wife had died before him. In the purity of the moon, far from the sorrows of this world, he finds something to steady a heart that longs for his late wife. Where the two preceding poems said that the moon gives rise to brooding, this one says that the moon soothes it, reversing the conceit.
The author, Ōe no Tamemoto, is said to have been a son of Ōe no Tadahira, a mid-Heian official trained in letters. His name also appears in the headnote of 469 in this book, in the story of a woman who came to sell a mirror.

First line, "nagamuru ni," means "as I gaze, lost in thought," using the same word as the final line of the poem two before, "nagame shitsuran."
Second line, "mono omou koto no," means "my brooding," carrying on "mono omou" of 432 and "omou koto" of the preceding poem.
Third line, "nagusamu wa," means "that it is soothed."
Fourth line, "tsuki wa ukiyo no," means "the moon, of this sorrowful world," with "ukiyo" reflecting the grief of a man who has lost his wife.
Final line, "hoka yori ya yuku," means "does it go by a path beyond," with "ya" a questioning particle resolved by the attributive "yuku." Imagining the moon's course, he guesses at the reason for his solace.
Author: Ōe no Tamemoto
Source: Shui Wakashu
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