Kokonoe no kumoi o wakete hisakata no tsuki no miyako ni kari zo nakunaru

九重の雲居を分けて久方の
月の都に雁ぞ鳴くなる

Roma-ji: Kokonoe no kumoi o wakete hisakata no tsuki no miyako ni kari zo nakunaru
English Translation: Through the ninefold sky,
parting the clouds of heaven,
in the far-off realm,
in the capital of the moon,
I can hear the wild geese cry.
Meaning: Parting the ninefold clouds of the high heavens, the wild geese seem to be crying in the capital of the moon.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 226

Headnote: "Geese before the moon"
The poet hears geese that have parted the many-layered clouds of the high sky crying in the capital of the moon. He portrays the voices of geese crossing the bright moonlit sky in a fantastic manner, as voices resounding in a moon-city of the heavens.

Line 1, kokonoe, means "ninefold," and as a word also for the imperial palace it echoes "cloud-dwelling" and "capital" that follow.
Line 2 means "parting the cloud-high sky."
Line 3, hisakata no, is a pillow word for "moon."
Line 4, tsuki no miyako, is the city said to lie within the moon. Poem 253 also sings of the capital of the moon.
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with naru, inferring from sound. Five poems from here through 230 fall under the topic "Geese before the moon," pairing moon and geese. Against the geese over the sea in the preceding poem, this one sings of geese in the capital of the moon, so sea and heaven form a pair.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Wata no hara yae no shioji ni tobu kari no tsubasa no nami ni akikaze zo fuku
Next Poem: Nakiwataru kari no hakaze ni kumo kiete yo fukaki sora ni sumeru tsukikage