Sumeba miyu nigoreba kakuru sadame naki kono mi ya mizu ni yadoru tsukikage - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

澄めば見ゆ濁れば隠る定めなき
この身や水に宿る月影

Roma-ji: Sumeba miyu nigoreba kakuru sadame naki kono mi ya mizu ni yadoru tsukikage
English Translation: Seen when it is clear,
hidden when it clouds over,
uncertain thing,
is this body of mine the moon
reflected, dwelling in the water?
Meaning: Seen when the water is clear and hidden when it clouds, is this uncertain body of mine the moon's reflection dwelling in the water?
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1224

Headnote: "Composed on the Vimalakīrti Sutra's ten similes: this body is like the moon in the water"
This poem was composed on another of the Vimalakīrti Sutra's ten similes, that this body is like the moon in the water. Seen when the water is clear and hidden when it clouds, is this uncertain body the moon's reflection in the water? he says. In the moon in the water, which appears and vanishes as the water clears and clouds, he sees the frailty of a body without substance that arises and perishes through conditions.
The author, "Naganori, Minister of the Imperial Household," is Fujiwara no Naganori. A Confucian scholar of the Southern House of the Fujiwara, he served as professor of letters and rose to minister of the imperial household.
It follows 1202, which opens the book, and 1203 as another poem on the ten similes; where 1202 sang of froth on water and 1203 of a drifting cloud, this poem sings of the moon in the water.

First line, "sumeba miyu": "when the water is clear, the moon is seen."
Second line, "nigoreba kakuru": "when it clouds, it is hidden," in parallel with the first line.
Third line, "sadame naki": "uncertain," modifying "kono mi," this body, in the fourth line. It is the same phrase as "sadame naki" in the first line of 1203 in this book, and both use the ten similes to sing of the impermanence of the body.
Fourth line, "kono mi ya mizu ni": "ya," an interrogative binding particle, frames the question "is this body the moon dwelling in the water?" Like "kokoro no mizu ni" in the second line of 1218 in this book, it speaks of body and heart through the moon mirrored in water.
Fifth line, "yadoru tsukikage": "the moonlight dwelling in the water," closing on a noun.
Author: Fujiwara no Naganori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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