君待つと山の端出でて山の端に
入るまで月を眺めつるかな
入るまで月を眺めつるかな
- Roma-ji
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Kimi matsu to yama no ha idete yama no ha ni iru made tsuki o nagametsuru kana
- English Translation
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Waiting there for you
from when it left the mountain's rim
until it sank back
behind the mountain's rim again,
I sat and gazed upon the moon
- Meaning
- Waiting for you, I gazed at the moon from the moment it rose above the mountain ridge until it set behind the ridge again.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 298
While waiting for the beloved, the poet watched the moon all night, from its rising over the mountain ridge to its setting. Repeating "yama no ha" (the mountain's rim) conveys the long span from moonrise to moonset, entrusting the length of a night of waiting to the moon's course.
The next poem, 299, sings of a moon that rises when awaited but sets at its own will, so that two poems on the moon's rising and setting stand side by side.
The first line, "kimi matsu to" (waiting for you), uses "to" to give the purpose.
The second line, "yama no ha idete," refers to the moon rising over the ridge.
The third line, "yama no ha ni," repeats "yama no ha" from the second line, conveying the long time from rising to setting.
The fourth line, "iru made tsuki o" (until the moon set), refers to the moon sinking behind the ridge and corresponds to "iru o" in the fourth line of the next poem.
The final line, "nagametsuru kana," combines the attributive perfective "tsuru" and exclamatory "kana": I found I had gazed all night.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yuku hito mo ama no to wataru kokochi shite kumo no namiji ni tsuki o miru kana
- Next Poem
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Ika nareba matsu ni wa izuru tsuki naredo iru o kokoro ni makasezaruramu