Koishisa o moyoosu tsuki no kage nareba koborekakarite kakotsu namida ka

恋しさを催す月の影なれば
こぼれかかりてかこつ涙か

Roma-ji: Koishisa o moyoosu tsuki no kage nareba koborekakarite kakotsu namida ka
English Translation: Since it is the light
of the moon that stirs up all
the longing in me,
are they spilling now to blame it,
these my tears that fall?
Meaning: Since it is the moonlight that stirs up my longing, are these tears that spill down blaming it for my pain?
Commentary: Love Poems 633

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The moon"
Because the moonlight stirs up longing, the poet asks whether his falling tears are complaining that the moon is to blame. The impulse to pin love's tears on the moon is expressed as a question put from the side of the tears.
Like 'my tears with a look of reproach' in 628 of this book, it sings of tears that lay the blame on the moon, the same device recurring within the group of moon poems.

First line, “koishisa o”: the feeling of longing.
Second line, “moyoosu tsuki no”: moyoosu is to stir up, answering the topic.
Third line, “kage nareba”: kage is the moonlight: since it is such light.
Fourth line, “koborekakarite”: the tears spilling down.
Fifth line, “kakotsu namida ka”: kakotsu is to complain and lay the blame, and ka closes with a question.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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