Tsuki naku wa kureba yado e ya kaeramashi nobe ni wa hana no sakari naritomo

月なくは暮れば宿へや帰らまし
野辺には花の盛りなりとも

Roma-ji: Tsuki naku wa kureba yado e ya kaeramashi nobe ni wa hana no sakari naritomo
English Translation: If there were no moon,
I would have gone home, I think,
as the day grew dark,
even though the moorland lay
with its flowers at their height.
Meaning: Were there no moon, I would have gone home as soon as the day grew dark, however the flowers might be blooming in the fields.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 388

Headnote: "The moon shining on the flowers of the moor"
The topic is the moon shining on the flowers of the moor. Were there no moon, the poet would have gone home once the day grew dark, however the flowers might be in full bloom on the moor. It is thanks to the moonlight that he can stay on in the fields and gaze at the flowers even at night.
It echoes 269, in which the poet pushed through the tangled bush clover until the day grew dark, and here, in the form of a supposition against fact, it sings of the joy of being able to go on viewing the flowers by moonlight after dark.

First line, “tsuki naku wa”: if there were no moon, a supposition.
Second line, “kureba yado e ya”: kureba means if the day grew dark, and ya is a question particle.
Third line, “kaeramashi”: mashi expresses supposition contrary to fact, would I have gone home; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “nobe ni wa hana no”: in the moor, the flowers.
Fifth line, “sakari naritomo”: tomo is a concessive supposition, even if they were at their height, added afterward by inversion.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Tsuki sumu to ogi uezaran yado naraba aware sukunaki aki ni ya aramashi
Next Poem: Hana no koro o kage ni utsuseba aki no yo no tsuki mo nomori no kagami narikeri