Yūzukuyo obotsukanaki o kumoma yori honoka ni mieshi sore ka aranu ka

夕月夜おぼつかなきを雲間より
ほのかに見えしそれかあらぬか

Roma-ji: Yūzukuyo obotsukanaki o kumoma yori honoka ni mieshi sore ka aranu ka
English Translation: Under the evening moon,
already dim, I glimpsed it
through a gap in clouds—
what faintly showed itself:
was it you, or was it not?
Meaning: In the evening moonlight, already so dim, something showed faintly through a break in the clouds: was it you, or was it not?
Commentary: Love Poems 426

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
In the dim light of the evening moon, a figure faintly seen through a gap in the clouds may or may not have been the beloved; the poet voices a doubt that cannot be resolved. The pale moonlight is laid over feelings for someone glimpsed for an instant.
The Ruijū text places it in the section of poems found in another manuscript and in printed editions.

Line 1 means "a night with an evening moon," the same words as line 3 of the preceding poem.
Line 2 means "though it was dim and uncertain."
Line 3 means "through a break in the clouds."
Line 4 means "what showed faintly," shi being the attributive of the past auxiliary ki.
Line 5 means "was it that, or not?" doubting whether it was the beloved. The same phrase appears in line 2 of the next poem, 427.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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