Itsu tote mo koishikarazu wa aranedomo aki no yūbe wa ayashikarikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いつとても恋しからずはあらねども
秋の夕べはあやしかりけり

Roma-ji: Itsu tote mo koishikarazu wa aranedomo aki no yūbe wa ayashikarikeri
English Translation: There is never a time
when I do not long for you
and yet, how strange
are the evenings of autumn
how they deepen my desire
Meaning: There is no time at all when I do not long for you, and yet how strangely my longing deepens in the autumn evenings.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 546

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem sings that though the poet always longs for the beloved, the longing deepens strangely in the autumn evening. It states frankly, in plain words, the feeling that autumn dusk is when longing reaches its height. Famous for joining the melancholy of an autumn evening with the emotion of love, it was a favorite in later ages as well.

First line, "There is never a time": itsu tote mo means at any time.
Second line, "when I do not long for you": koishikarazu wa means "not longing."
Third line, "and yet, how strange": aranedomo means "though it is not," and lines one through three use a double negative to say that the longing is constant.
Fourth line, "are the evenings of autumn": aki no yube wa means the autumn evening. Together with "At the fall of dusk" in poem 484 of this book and "When evening comes" in the preceding poem, 545, it sings of dusk as the hour when longing deepens.
Fifth line, "how they deepen my desire": ayashi means strange or inexplicable, and keri expresses realization, carrying surprise at how especially the longing grows at autumn dusk.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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