[57] め (Me)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Murasaki depicted gazing at the Moon for inspiration at Ishiyama-dera by Yoshitoshi (1889)

めぐりあひて・みしやそれとも・わかぬまに
meguri aite・mishi ya sore to mo・wakanu ma ni

くもがくれにし・よはのつきかな
kumo-gakure ni shi・yowa no tsuki kana

〜紫式部（Murasaki Shikibu）

Translation

Just like the moon

you had come and gone
before I knew it

Were you, too, hiding

among the midnight clouds?

~Translation by Peter McMillan

Meaning

Apparently, in the Shinkokinshū, a poetry anthology which contains this poem, there is a note on the poem that reads: 

Written after a brief meeting with a childhood friend whom she had not seen for many years as that friend set off on the tenth of the Seventh Month 
(trans. Rodd 2015, 616)

There are some who suspect that this childhood friend may have been a former lover, and some other English translations interpret the poem this way, but I feel the poem holds just as much emotional weight even if the two were just friends. Some translations also seem to suggest that Murasaki Shikibu saw her friend only briefly in passing, but her phrasing can also be interpreted as an exaggeration; the time they spent together was so short, that it was as if she had merely glimpsed her friend. She feels as though she barely had time to recognize her friend's face before they were gone again, like the moon slipping into view for only a moment between passing clouds. The poem captures the joy of seeing an old friend coupled with a keen sense of sadness that their reunion was so short.  

巡り会う (meguriau) means "to meet by chance", or to meet fortuitously. The word めぐる is also often associated with the moon, so it works to express her meeting with her friend, while also strengthening the metaphor she's making with the moon. 夜半(yowa) means the middle of the night, and the ending かな is a phrase meant to denote an exclamation or admiration, so some other translations end the poem with an exclamation to reflect this. 

Author

        Illustration of Murasaki        
Shikibu by Tosa Mitsuoki

Murasaki Shikibu (970 ~ 1014) is the daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki and her name may have been derived from the name of the Fujiwara clan, since fuji is the name for wisteria, which are often a violet color (murasaki, in Japanese) while "Shikibu" comes from her father's official title. She was the mother of Daini no Sanmi, author of [58] Arima.

Murasaki famously authored "The Tale of Genji", which is considered to be one of the world's first novels. She was invited to the court of Empress Sōshi due to her reputation as a writer, where she lived alongside other talented writers such as Izumi Shikibu (author of [56] Araza) and Akazome Emon (author of [59] Yasu).

Sei Shōnagon (author of [62] Yoo) was lady in waiting to Empress Teishi at the same time, and the rivalry between her and Murasaki Shikibu is documented in Murasaki's diary. Murasaki also seems to have had rivalries with some of the other female authors in Empress Sōshi's court. 

Murasaki also authored a collection of "Poetic Memoirs", which were later published by Fujiwara no Teika, who was the one who compiled the Hyakunin Isshu (and authored [97] Konu).