Tsukikage o waga mi ni kauru mono naraba omowanu hito mo aware to ya mimu - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

月影を我が身にかふる物ならば
思はぬ人もあはれとや見む

Roma-ji: Tsukikage o waga mi ni kauru mono naraba omowanu hito mo aware to ya mimu
English Translation: If the moon's bright light
I could take in place of me,
trade my self for it,
would the one who loves me not
look upon me tenderly?
Meaning: If I could exchange myself for the light of the moon, would even the one who does not love me look on me with tender feeling?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 793

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem wonders whether, if one could exchange oneself for the moonlight, even the person who does not care would look with tender feeling. Envying the moonlight that everyone gazes at, it sings of a wish to be looked upon, like the moon, by a cold-hearted lover.
The author, "Tadamine," is Mibu no Tadamine, one of the compilers of the Kokinshū and father of Mibu no Tadami. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for the Hyakunin Isshu poem "ariake no tsurenaku mieshi wakare yori."

First line, "tsukikage o," means "the moonlight."
Second line, "waga mi ni kauru," means "exchanging it for myself." Together with the next poem, 794, it links the moon's being seen with the thoughts of love. It shares the conceit of wishing to exchange oneself for something with the fourth line of 834, "waga mi to ima wa."
Third line, "mono naraba," means "if it were so," a supposition.
Fourth line, "omowanu hito mo," means "even the one who does not love me."
Final line, "aware to ya mimu," means "would they look with tender feeling," concluding in the attributive form of the conjectural "mu" in answer to "ya."
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Shui Wakashu
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