Ikade ka wa tamoto ni tsuki no yadoramashi hikari machitoru namida narazu wa - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかでかは袂に月の宿らまし
光待ちとる涙ならずは

Roma-ji: Ikade ka wa tamoto ni tsuki no yadoramashi hikari machitoru namida narazu wa
English Translation: How could it be that
the moon would make my sleeve
its place to dwell in,
were it not for tears that wait
to catch and hold its light
Meaning: How could the moon come to dwell in my sleeve, were it not for the tears that wait to receive its light?
Commentary: Book Eleven Variant Poems 702

Were it not for the tears that wait to catch the moonlight, how could the moon ever lodge in the poet's sleeve? Describing the moonlight reflected in tears shed while gazing at the moon as the moon lodging in the sleeve, the poem conveys the depth of thought turned toward the moon.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 536 in Book Nine. Poems reflecting on the self through the moon stand around it.

First line, 'ikade ka wa', means how could it, expressing a rhetorical question.
Second line, 'tamoto ni tsuki no', means the moon in my sleeve.
Third line, 'yadoramashi', means would it dwell, the counterfactual mashi answering ikade ka wa in the first line to form a rhetorical question; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'hikari machitoru', means waiting to receive the light.
Final line, 'namida narazu wa', means were it not for tears, the continuative of the negative zu with wa expressing a supposition. It is inverted with the lines before.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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