Shirazariki kumoi no yoso ni mishi tsuki no kage o tamoto ni yadosu beshi to wa

知らざりき雲居のよそに見し月の
影を袂に宿すべしとは

Roma-ji: Shirazariki kumoi no yoso ni mishi tsuki no kage o tamoto ni yadosu beshi to wa
English Translation: Never did I know
that the moon I watched afar
in the clouded sky
would come to cast its light
to dwell within my sleeves.
Meaning: I never knew that the moon I used to watch far off beyond the clouds would come to lodge its light in my tear-soaked sleeves.
Commentary: Love Poems 617

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The moon"
The light of the moon the poet once watched far above the clouds is now reflected in his sleeves wet with the tears of love. He never imagined that the moon he had gazed at as something unrelated to himself would come to dwell in sleeves soaked by love's tears. In kumoi no yoso, far off beyond the clouds, one may also read a love for someone beyond reach.
It was included in the fourth book of love poems of the Senzaishū under the name of the monk En'i.

First line, “shirazariki”: ki is the past auxiliary: I never knew. The poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, “kumoi no yoso ni”: kumoi is the sky where the clouds are, and yoso a far place unrelated to oneself.
Third line, “mishi tsuki no”: the moon I used to see.
Fourth line, “kage o tamoto ni”: kage is the moonlight and tamoto the sleeve, hinting at sleeves wet with tears.
Fifth line, “yadosu beshi to wa”: that I would come to lodge it, returning in inversion to the first line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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