Yoso nite mo onaji kokoro ni ariake no tsuki o miru ya to tare ni towamashi - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

よそにても同し心に在明の
月をみるやと誰にとはまし

Roma-ji: Yoso nite mo onaji kokoro ni ariake no tsuki o miru ya to tare ni towamashi
English Translation: Though we are apart,
with a heart the same as mine,
watching the dawn moon—
whom could I ever think to ask
whether you gaze at it too?
Meaning: Whom could I ask whether you, though far away, are watching this dawn moon with the same heart as mine?
Commentary: 23 The Dawn Moon and the Jotted Verses

After the twentieth of the ninth month, waking to the dawn moon, the prince thought how long it had been since they had met and that she too must be watching this moon. Taking only his usual page boy, he went and had him knock at her gate. Izumi Shikibu happened to be lying awake, turning many things over in her mind; lately, perhaps because of the season, she had felt more forlorn than usual and given to melancholy. Wondering who it could be, she tried to wake the woman sleeping beside her to go and ask, but the woman would not get up. When at last she did, she stumbled about bumping into things, and meanwhile the knocking stopped. Had he gone home? He must think her a sound sleeper, she thought regretfully, and wondered who else had been lying awake as she was. The woman finally went out but found no one, and grumbled, "You must have imagined it. Waking people in the middle of the night," before going back to sleep. Izumi Shikibu stayed up gazing at the misty sky until dawn, and when it grew light she began writing down the thoughts that had come to her in those early hours. Just then a letter came from the prince as usual.
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.
This is the last poem in the jottings Izumi Shikibu wrote at dawn. How moved she would be, she thought, if someone were to knock at her gate just now; but who else could be spending the night awake like this? So she wrote this poem.
She had been thinking of sending these jottings to the prince when his letter arrived, and realizing that he had indeed come the night before, she sent them to him as they were. Reading them, the prince felt they had not been written in vain, and hurrying to reach her while she was still lost in thought, he quickly sent a reply, answering this poem with "Yoso nite mo kimi bakari koso tsuki wa mime to omoite yukishi kesa zo kurushiki."

The first line means "even though apart." The second and third lines mean "with the same heart, the dawn," where "ari" in "ariake" also suggests "being there."
The lower verses mean "whom should I ask whether you watch the moon?" with an interrogative particle and a hesitant expression of will. Though it is plain that the one to ask is the prince, by saying "whom" she modestly expresses her longing for the one she hopes is watching the same moon. The poem leaves the lingering echo of a question, a fitting close to her jottings.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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