Nagamekite tsuki ika bakari shinobaren kono yo shi kumo no hoka ni narinaba

眺め来て月いかばかり偲ばれん
この世し雲の外になりなば

Roma-ji: Nagamekite tsuki ika bakari shinobaren kono yo shi kumo no hoka ni narinaba
English Translation: Having gazed so long,
how I'll miss the moon, I think,
how I'll long for it,
when this world has become a place
beyond the distant clouds.
Meaning: Having gazed at it all these years, how I shall long for the moon once this world lies far beyond the clouds.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1412

Headnote: none
Having gazed at the moon so long, how he will long for it when this world lies beyond the clouds after his death, the poet says.
He imagines how dearly he will miss the moon of this world after death; his attachment to the moon reaches into the next life, echoing 1041 at the close of the preceding book, where the moon gazed at in this world lights the darkness of the next.

First line, “nagamekite”: having gazed for years.
Second line, “tsuki ika bakari”: the moon, how much.
Third line, “shinobaren”: re is spontaneous and n conjectural, "how I will miss it"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “kono yo shi kumo no”: shi is emphatic, "this world, the clouds'."
Fifth line, “hoka ni narinaba”: naba is perfective nu with ba, "if it becomes beyond them."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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