Ashie yori michikuru shio no iyamashi ni omoe ka kimi ga wasurekanetsuru

葦辺より満ち来る潮のいや増しに
思へか君が忘れかねつる

Roma-ji: Ashie yori michikuru shio no iyamashi ni omoe ka kimi ga wasurekanetsuru
English Translation: From the reedy shore,
as the tide comes flowing in,
rising ever more,
is it that my longing grows
that I cannot forget you
Meaning: Like the tide that comes flooding in from the reedy shore, rising ever higher, is it because my longing grows that I cannot forget you?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 617

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems sent by Princess Yamaguchi to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
In the last of the five, with the tide flooding in from the reedy shore as its preface, she wonders whether it is because her longing keeps growing that she cannot forget him. The surge of the rising tide stands for a love that swells beyond restraint.
The author, Princess Yamaguchi, is a woman of whom little is known, apparently one of the women who exchanged love poems with Ōtomo no Yakamochi.

First line, "From the reedy shore," means from the water's edge where reeds grow.
Second line, "as the tide comes flowing in," with the first line forms a preface to "rising ever more."
Third line, "rising ever more," means increasing more and more.
Fourth line, "is it that my longing grows," joins the perfective form to ka for a questioning condition: is it because I long so? It is closed by tsuru in the fifth line.
Fifth line, "that I cannot forget you," means I am unable to forget, ending in the attributive tsuru.
Author: Princess Yamaguchi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Tsurugitachi na no oshikeku mo ware wa nashi kimi ni awazute toshi no henureba
Next Poem: Sayonaka ni tomo yobu chidori mono mou to wabioru toki ni nakitsutsu motona