Tsuki o mite aretaru yado ni nagamu to wa mi ni konu made mo tare ni tsugeyo to - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

月をみてあれたる宿に詠むとは
見にこぬ迄も誰につけよと

Roma-ji: Tsuki o mite aretaru yado ni nagamu to wa mi ni konu made mo tare ni tsugeyo to
English Translation: Gazing at the moon,
here in my ruined house I brood;
even if you won't come
to see it, whom else but you
should I ever tell of this?
Meaning: I gaze at the moon from my ruined house, lost in thought; even if you will not come to see it, whom but you am I to tell?
Commentary: 16 Gazing at the Moon from a Ruined House

After the misunderstanding over the carriage at her gate, the prince's visits had grown rare. On a moonlit night, lying down, Izumi Shikibu could not help gazing at the moon, murmuring "how enviable," and she sent the prince a poem. She had her privy maid hand it to the officer of the Right Palace Guards with the words "Please come." The prince was conversing with his people, but when they withdrew and he was about to go in, the officer presented it, and the prince said, "Make ready the usual carriage," and set out. As she sat near the veranda gazing at the moon, someone came in; she lowered the blind, and saw that he was not dressed as she was used to seeing him, yet his well-worn informal robe looked all the more charming. Without a word he placed a letter on his fan and passed it in, saying, "Your messenger left so quickly," and she held out her own fan to take it. The prince strolled through the lovely garden plantings, murmuring "Is one but dew upon the grass?" with great elegance. Coming near, he said, "I will go home tonight. I came to see whom you are meeting in secret. Tomorrow is a day of abstinence, and it will look odd if I am not at home," and made to leave.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu. The privy maid was a girl who served at menial tasks such as cleaning chamber pots. The officer of the Right Palace Guards was the prince's close attendant who accompanied him and carried his letters.
Thinking of the prince who no longer came, and gazing alone at the moon from her ruined dwelling, Izumi Shikibu wanted him above all to know her feelings, and so she sent him this poem of her own accord.
On receiving it, the prince at once had his carriage readied and came. The letter he passed in on his fan read "Waga yue ni tsuki o nagamu to tsugetsureba makoto ka to mi ni idete kinikeri."

The first three lines mean "that I gaze at the moon, brooding, in my ruined house," the gazing being the absent stare of one lost in thought; she calls her own dwelling, which no one visits, a ruined house.
The lower verses mean "even if you do not come to see, whom am I to tell?" with a particle of degree and an imperative, the words "am I to" left unspoken. Even if he does not come, she wants him at least to know, and so modestly urges a visit. That she sent the poem herself rather than merely waiting shows how her love had deepened.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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