Yoi no ma ni honoka ni hito o mikazuki no akade irinishi kage zo koishiki - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

宵の間にほのかに人をみかづきの
飽かで入りにし影ぞ恋しき

Roma-ji: Yoi no ma ni honoka ni hito o mikazuki no akade irinishi kage zo koishiki
English Translation: In the early night
I glimpsed you faintly, like the
thin new crescent moon,
the form that set before I
had my fill, how I long for it
Meaning: Early in the evening I saw you faintly, and like the crescent moon you vanished before I had seen enough; how I long for that form.
Commentary: Book Eleven Variant Poems 692

Early in the evening the poet glimpsed the beloved faintly, but like the crescent moon that sets within the evening, the beloved was gone before the poet could see enough, and that form is longed for. Longing for one seen only briefly before parting is likened to the quickly setting crescent moon.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 408 in Book Seven. Poem 484 in Book Eight is also a love poem turning to the crescent moon.
The author, Tametada, is Fujiwara no Tametada, a son of Fujiwara no Tomonobu, who served in posts such as Governor of Tango. His sons Jakunen, Jakuchō and Jakuzen were later known as the Three Jaku of Ōhara.

First line, 'yoi no ma ni', means in the early night, the hour when the crescent moon is seen.
Second line, 'honoka ni hito o', means faintly, that person.
Third line, 'mikazuki no', joins mi, seeing, with mikazuki, the crescent moon. It is the same word as the first line of 484 in Book Eight.
Fourth line, 'akade irinishi', means that set before I was satisfied, overlaying the moon going behind the hills with the person going away. The perfective nu is followed by the attributive of the past ki.
Final line, 'kage zo koishiki', means how I long for that form, the particle zo answered by the attributive koishiki. Kage joins the moonlight with the figure of the person.
Author: Fujiwara no Tametada
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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