Yume yori mo hakanaki mono wa kagerou no honoka ni mieshi kage ni zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夢よりもはかなきものはかげろふの
ほのかに見えし影にぞありける

Roma-ji: Yume yori mo hakanaki mono wa kagerou no honoka ni mieshi kage ni zo arikeru
English Translation: More fleeting than dreams,
what is it that fades so fast?
Like shimmering haze,
it was your form that I saw
so faintly, only for a moment.
Meaning: More fleeting even than a dream was your form, glimpsed faintly like shimmering heat haze.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 733

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent to a woman"
The poem says that more fleeting even than a dream was the form of the beloved, glimpsed faintly like shimmering haze. Naming as yet more fleeting than dreams, themselves the very type of fleeting things, an image barely seen, it expresses an elusive longing that cannot be grasped. Like the preceding poem, 732, it sings of longing for one glimpsed faintly.

First line, "yume yori mo," means "more than a dream," comparing with the dream, the very type of fleeting things.
Second line, "hakanaki mono wa," means "what is fleeting."
Third line, "kagerou no," means "like shimmering haze," something wavering and hard to grasp. Its sound echoes "kage" in the final line.
Fourth line, "honoka ni mieshi," means "faintly glimpsed," sharing the same words with the fourth line of the preceding poem, 732, "honoka ni mite zo."
Final line, "kage ni zo arikeru," means "was your form," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by the attributive "keru."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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