Keburi ka to Muro no Yashima o mishi hodo ni yagate mo sora no kasuminuru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

煙かと室の八島を見しほどに
やがても空の霞みぬるかな

Roma-ji: Keburi ka to Muro no Yashima o mishi hodo ni yagate mo sora no kasuminuru kana
English Translation: Is it smoke? I thought,
gazing at Muro's Yashima,
and even as I gazed
the sky itself, without a break,
has filled with misting haze
Meaning: As I gazed at Muro no Yashima, wondering if that was smoke rising, the whole sky, without a pause, became veiled in haze.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 7

Headnote: "Composed when the Hosshōji Lay Priest and Former Chancellor, then Palace Minister, had people compose ten-poem sets"
This poem was composed when Fujiwara no Tadamichi, then Palace Minister, had people compose ten-poem sets. Gazing at Muro no Yashima in Shimotsuke, a poetic place famed for its smoke, and wondering whether what rises is smoke, the poet finds that the whole sky has meanwhile become hazy. The blurring of smoke into haze captures the spreading of spring mist.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," is Minamoto no Toshiyori, son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A leading figure in the poetry circle of Emperor Horikawa, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa. Fujiwara no Shunzei, compiler of the Senzai Wakashū, deeply revered him, and more of his poems are included in this anthology than those of any other poet.

First line, "keburi ka to": seeing what rises and taking it for smoke. Smoke was the conventional image for Muro no Yashima.
Second line, "Muro no Yashima o": a poetic place in Shimotsuke where vapor rising from a pond was said to look like smoke.
Third line, "mishi hodo ni": "while I was looking," with "shi" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki."
Fourth line, "yagate mo sora no": "yagate" means "straightaway, without a break," depicting how what seemed smoke flows on unbroken into the haze of the sky.
Fifth line, "kasuminuru kana": "nuru" is the attributive of the completive "nu," and "kana" is exclamatory. What seemed smoke has merged into haze, and the poem shows haze spread across the whole sky.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yamazato no kakine ni haru ya shirukaramu kasumanu saki ni uguisu no naku
Next Poem: Kasumi shiku haru no shioji o miwataseba midori o wakuru okitsu shiranami