Au koto wa katawarezuki no kumogakure oboroke ni ya wa hito no koishiki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふ事はかたわれ月の雲隠れ
おぼろけにやは人の恋しき

Roma-ji: Au koto wa katawarezuki no kumogakure oboroke ni ya wa hito no koishiki
English Translation: Meeting is so hard,
like the half moon broken off
hidden in the clouds,
but is it in some common way
that I long for that one so?
Meaning: Meeting is as hard as glimpsing the half moon hidden in the clouds, but is my longing for that person any ordinary thing? No, it is not.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 784

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that meeting is hard, as the half moon hides behind clouds, yet the longing for that person is no ordinary thing. Pivoting "katawarezuki" on "kata," hard, it draws "oboroke," ordinary, from the hazy light of the moon behind clouds, and strongly asserts the depth of love through a rhetorical question.

First line, "au koto wa," means "as for meeting."
Second line, "katawarezuki no," is a pivot word: "kata" means "hard," as meeting is hard, and also forms "katawarezuki," the moon broken in half.
Third line, "kumogakure," means "hidden in the clouds." It is the same line as the third lines of the preceding poem, 783, and the next poem, 785, the three poems together singing of a moon hidden by clouds.
Fourth line, "oboroke ni ya wa," means "in an ordinary way," drawn from the hazy light of the clouded moon, with "ya wa" a binding particle of rhetorical question.
Final line, "hito no koishiki," means "do I long for that person," concluding in the attributive form "koishiki" in answer to "ya wa," declaring through rhetorical question that the longing is no ordinary thing.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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