Ike ni sumu tsuki ni kakareru ukigumo wa harainokoseru misabi narikeri

池に澄む月にかかれる浮雲は
払ひ残せる水錆なりけり

Roma-ji: Ike ni sumu tsuki ni kakareru ukigumo wa harainokoseru misabi narikeri
English Translation: On the clear pond's moon,
the drifting cloud that crosses
over its bright face
is but rust upon the water
that was left unswept away.
Meaning: The drifting cloud that crosses the moon shining clear in the pond is nothing but a patch of water rust left unswept.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 322

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the same topic when people wrote poems at Henjōji"
This is another poem from the gathering at Henjōji on the moon over a pond. The drifting cloud that seems to cross the moon shining clear on the water is, the poet says, water rust left unswept on the pond. It is a witty poem likening the shadow of a cloud over the reflected moon to rust left on the water.
Where 320 sang of the moon on a pond free of water rust, this poem likens that rust to a cloud crossing the moon, so the two answer each other. The pattern ukigumo wa ... narikeri is also the same as in 319, where the cloud proved to be the smoke of Fuji, repeating the device of revealing what the drifting cloud truly is.

First line, “ike ni sumu”: shining clear in the water of the pond.
Second line, “tsuki ni kakareru”: ru is the attributive of the continuative ri, lying across the moon.
Third line, “ukigumo wa”: the same as the third line of 319, singled out by wa with its nature revealed in the last line.
Fourth line, “harainokoseru”: left unswept, seeing it as rust on the pond that was not fully cleared away.
Fifth line, “misabi narikeri”: keri expresses realization, closing by declaring the cloud to be water rust.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Yadoshi motsu tsuki no hikari no ooshisa wa ika ni iedomo Hirosawa no ike
Next Poem: Mizu nakute kōri zo shitaru Katsumata no ike aratamuru aki no yo no tsuki