Todae shite hito mo kayowanu tanahashi wa tsuki bakari koso sumiwatarikere - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

途絶えして人も通はぬ棚橋は
月ばかりこそすみわたりけれ

Roma-ji: Todae shite hito mo kayowanu tanahashi wa tsuki bakari koso sumiwatarikere
English Translation: The plank bridge broken,
no one comes across it now,
no traveler passes,
yet the moon alone shines clear
and dwells as it crosses over
Meaning: On the broken plank bridge where no one passes anymore, only the moonlight crosses, shining clear as though it had made its home there.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 207

On a plank bridge that has broken and is no longer crossed by anyone, only the moonlight shines clear as it passes over. Through the contrast of a lonely, untraveled bridge and the pure moon lighting it, the poem depicts the beauty of a desolate scene.
From poem 174 through poem 217 in this book a long sequence of moon poems follows, from the evening moon through the bright moon of the fifteenth night of the Eighth Month to the moon at dawn, singing of the moon in all its aspects and of the heart that gazes on it.

First line, 'todae shite', means broken off midway, describing the damaged bridge.
Second line, 'hito mo kayowanu', means where no one passes.
Third line, 'tanahashi wa', uses tanahashi, a simple bridge of planks laid like a shelf.
Fourth line, 'tsuki bakari koso', means the moon alone, and koso binds with the realis kere in the final line.
Final line, 'sumiwatarikere', is a pivot word in which sumu means both to shine clear and to dwell; wataru, to cross, is an associated word of the bridge, the moon crossing in place of people.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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