Omoishiru o yo ni wa kuma naki kage narazu waga me ni kumoru tsuki no hikari wa

思ひ知るを世には隈なき影ならず
我が目に曇る月の光は

Roma-ji: Omoishiru o yo ni wa kuma naki kage narazu waga me ni kumoru tsuki no hikari wa
English Translation: I have come to know:
what the world sees as shining
without a shadow
is not so for me—the light
of the moon clouds in my eyes.
Meaning: I have come to know that the moonlight, shining without a shadow for the world, is not so for me, for it clouds over in my own eyes.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1480

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on the Moon"
The eighth of the ten poems on the moon. The moonlight that shines unclouded for others clouds over in his own eyes, and he realizes it is no flawless light for him.
It expresses the thought that the same moon can seem bright or dim according to the heart of the one who sees it, here as the clouding of his own eyes. The clouding is understood as tears, revealing the depth of his brooding. Where 1477 resolved to leave no shadow in the heart, this poem looks at his own eyes that still cloud.

First line, “omoishiru o”: I have come to know; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “yo ni wa kuma naki”: shining without shadow for the world.
Third line, “kage narazu”: it is not such light, not so for him; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “waga me ni kumoru”: clouding in my eyes, set against “yo ni wa” in the second line.
Fifth line, “tsuki no hikari wa”: by inversion, naming what is not a shadowless light.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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