Matsu hito no ōzora wataru tsuki naraba nururu tamoto ni kage wa mitemashi - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

待つ人の大空渡る月ならば
濡るる袂に影は見てまし

Roma-ji: Matsu hito no ōzora wataru tsuki naraba nururu tamoto ni kage wa mitemashi
English Translation: If the one I wait for
were the moon that crosses
the wide sky above,
in my sleeves soaked through with tears
I would at least see your light
Meaning: If the one I wait for were the moon crossing the wide sky, I could at least see your light reflected in my tear-soaked sleeves.
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 453

If the one he waits for were the moon crossing the wide sky, the poet says, he could at least see its light in his tear-wet sleeves. The moon would lodge its light even in sleeves of tears, but the one he waits for does not show even a glimpse, he laments through a contrary-to-fact supposition.
Like poems 424 and 470 in this book, it sings of waiting for a lover through the image of the moon.
The author, Eien, was a son of Fujiwara no Nagasuke and a poet-monk of the Kōfukuji who rose to Provisional Archbishop. Famed for his poems on the cuckoo, he was called the Archbishop of the First Song, and he was also one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences.

First line, 'matsu hito no', means the one I wait for.
Second line, 'ōzora wataru', means crossing the wide sky.
Third line, 'tsuki naraba', means if it were the moon, a supposition formed by the irrealis of the assertive nari with ba.
Fourth line, 'nururu tamoto ni', means in my sleeves wet with tears, where moonlight would be reflected.
Final line, 'kage wa mitemashi', means I could at least see its light, using the contrary-to-fact mashi in answer to naraba in the third line.
Author: Yoen
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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