Kaku bakari hegataku miyuru yo no naka ni urayamashiku mo sumeru tsuki kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かくばかり経がたく見ゆる世の中に
うらやましくもすめる月かな

Roma-ji: Kaku bakari hegataku miyuru yo no naka ni urayamashiku mo sumeru tsuki kana
English Translation: In such a world as this,
which looks so hard to live through,
there, enviably,
the moon dwells on in the sky,
so clear and pure. Ah, the moon!
Meaning: In this world, which seems so hard to live through, how enviable is the moon that dwells here, shining so clear and pure.
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 435

Headnote: "When I had resolved to become a monk, on seeing the moon"
The poet sings of the moon, which dwells in this world that seems so hard to live in, yet remains enviably clear. The headnote shows he wrote it on seeing the moon when he had resolved to become a monk. Feeling the secular world hard to live in, he envies the moon that lives in the world without being clouded, and so expresses a heart turning toward leaving the world. Where the preceding poem said the moon travels beyond this sorrowful world, this one says it dwells within the world and yet is clear.
The author, written as Fujiwara no Takamitsu, is Fujiwara no Takamitsu. A son of the Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Morosuke, he took the tonsure young and lived on Mount Tōnomine after a time at Yokawa on Mount Hiei. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
This poem is known as Takamitsu's representative work and is often cited in later writings on poetry.

First line, "kaku bakari," means "this much, so."
Second line, "hegataku miyuru," means "that seems so hard to live through," with "he" meaning to pass the years. Like the first line of the opening poem, 432, "yo ni furu ni," it sings of a self passing through the world.
Third line, "yo no naka ni," means "in this world," in contrast to "beyond this sorrowful world" in the preceding poem.
Fourth line, "urayamashiku mo," means "how enviably," the line where the poet's longing to leave the world shows most strongly.
Final line, "sumeru tsuki kana," means "ah, the moon that dwells so clear." "Sumeru" is a pivot word joining "sumu," to be clear, of the moonlight, and "sumu," to dwell, in the world, and "kana" is an exclamatory particle.
Author: Fujiwara no Takamitsu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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