Ariake no tsuki no hikari o matsu hodo ni waga yo no itaku fukenikeru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

有明の月の光を待つほどに
我が世のいたくふけにけるかな

Roma-ji: Ariake no tsuki no hikari o matsu hodo ni waga yo no itaku fukenikeru kana
English Translation: While I was waiting
for the light of the moon
that lingers at dawn,
my own life has, like the night,
grown so very late, alas!
Meaning: While I waited for the light of the dawn moon, my life, like the night, has grown deep and old.
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 436

Headnote: "When Reizei-in was Crown Prince, a poem on the heart that waits for the moon"
The poet says that while he waited for the light of the dawn moon, his own years grew old, as the night grows late. The headnote shows it was written on the topic of a heart waiting for the moon when Reizei-in was still Crown Prince. As one who served the Crown Prince, he laments having aged while waiting for advancement, overlaying that grief on the late night spent waiting for the moon. Where the poems up to the preceding one sang of a moon gazed upon, this one sings of a moon waited for, pairing with the moon that does not pass by in the next poem, 437.
The author, Fujiwara no Nakafumi, was a son of Fujiwara no Kimikazu and a mid-Heian poet. He served Emperor Reizei from the time he was Crown Prince. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. In the original text, the author's name follows directly at the end of the headnote.

First line, "ariake no," means "lingering at dawn," referring to the late-rising moon of the waning month that still hangs in the sky at daybreak.
Second line, "tsuki no hikari o," means "the light of the moon."
Third line, "matsu hodo ni," means "while I waited," expressing the passage of time.
Fourth line, "waga yo no itaku," means "my life so very," with "yo," life, echoing "yo," night. The fourth line of 461 in this book, "matsu sae itaku," laments age with the same "itaku."
Final line, "fukenikeru kana," means "how late it has grown." "Fuke" is a pivot word joining the night growing late and a person growing old, with "ni" perfective and "keru" exclamatory. It ends in the same form as the final line of 461, "oinikeru kana."
Author: Fujiwara no Nakafumi
Source: Shui Wakashu
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