Hakanaku mo waga yo no fuke o shirazu shite isayou tsuki o machiwataru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

はかなくもわがよの更けを知らずして
いさよふ月を待ちわたるかな

Roma-ji: Hakanaku mo waga yo no fuke o shirazu shite isayou tsuki o machiwataru kana
English Translation: How futile it is!
Unaware that my own night
is growing late as well,
I keep waiting all night long
for the hesitating moon
Meaning: How futile! Unaware that the night of my own life is growing late, I go on waiting and waiting for the hesitant moon of the sixteenth night.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 997

Headnote: "Composed on the theme "The moon of the sixteenth night" when I composed many poems on the moon"
This poem was composed on the theme "the moon of the sixteenth night" when he composed many moon poems. How futile, unaware that the night of my life is growing late, I keep waiting for the hesitant moon, he says. While waiting late into the night for the moon of the sixteenth, which hesitates to rise, he realizes that his own years too are growing late, and laments the frailty of an aging self.
The author, "Minamoto no Nakamasa," was a son of Minamoto no Yoritsuna. He served as head of the Hyōgo Office and was the father of Minamoto no Yorimasa.
It shares with "waga yo fukenu" in 999 of this book the growing late of "waga yo," one's own night or life, so that poems of awakening to old age before the moon stand together.

First line, "hakanaku mo": "how futile, how vain."
Second line, "waga yo no fuke o": "yo" is a pivot word meaning both one's life, one's years, and the night. It answers "waga yo fukenu to" in the second line of 999 of this book.
Third line, "shirazu shite": "without knowing."
Fourth line, "isayou tsuki o": "isayou" means to hesitate, so called because the moon of the sixteenth day rises later than on the night before.
Fifth line, "machiwataru kana": "wataru" means to go on doing, "how I go on waiting."
Author: Minamoto no Nakamasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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