Kimi inaba tsuki matsu tote mo nagameyaran azuma no kata no yūgure no sora

君去なば月待つとても眺めやらん
東の方の夕暮の空

Roma-ji: Kimi inaba tsuki matsu tote mo nagameyaran azuma no kata no yūgure no sora
English Translation: When you have gone away,
even as I wait for the moon
I shall gaze afar
toward the eastern regions
and the sky at evening's fall.
Meaning: Once you have gone, even when I tell myself I am only waiting for the moon, I will be gazing far toward the evening sky in the east.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1046

Headnote: "When an acquaintance was going down to Michinoku, on composing a parting poem"
This is a parting poem for an acquaintance setting out for Michinoku. After you are gone, Saigyō says, even while seeming to wait for the moon, I will gaze at the evening sky in the east where you are. The moon rising in the east and the friend departing for the eastern provinces are laid together, so that waiting for the moon and longing for the friend become one.
Rather than stating the sorrow of parting outright, the poem conveys it by picturing the poet's future self. Saigyō himself traveled to Michinoku, and this longing toward the eastern sky echoes the poems of his northern journey in this book.

First line, “kimi inaba”: if you go away; the irrealis with ba forms a supposition.
Second line, “tsuki matsu tote mo”: even when it is to wait for the moon, the moon offered almost as a pretext.
Third line, “nagameyaran”: nagameyaru is to gaze far off; ran is conjectural, and the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “azuma no kata no”: toward the east, the direction of the friend's Michinoku and of the rising moon.
Fifth line, “yūgure no sora”: ending on a noun, the evening sky of moon-waiting lingers with thoughts of the friend.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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