Tsukikage no sore ka aranu ka kagerō no honoka ni miete kumogakureniki

月影のそれかあらぬかかげろふの
ほのかに見えて雲隠れにき

Roma-ji: Tsukikage no sore ka aranu ka kagerō no honoka ni miete kumogakureniki
English Translation: Was it the moonlight
or was it not? Like a shimmer
of gossamer air
it faintly came in sight
and vanished in the clouds.
Meaning: Was it the moonlight or not? It showed faintly like a shimmer of heat haze, then hid itself among the clouds.
Commentary: Love Poems 427

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
The moonlight shows faintly like a shimmer of heat haze, then hides behind the clouds; the poet lays upon the moon the figure of a beloved glimpsed and gone. Using the same phrase as the preceding poem, he continues his thoughts on what appears and disappears.

Line 1 means "of the moonlight."
Line 2 means "was it that or not," the same phrase as line 5 of the preceding poem.
Line 3 means "like the heat shimmer," a symbol of the wavering and fleeting, leading to "faintly."
Line 4 means "showing faintly," nearly the same as line 4 of the preceding poem.
Line 5 means "it hid among the clouds," ni being perfective and ki past.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Yūzukuyo obotsukanaki o kumoma yori honoka ni mieshi sore ka aranu ka
Next Poem: Waga koi wa momoshima meguri hamachidori yukue mo shiranu kata ni naku nari