Kono koro no koi no shigekeku natsukusa no kariharaedomo oishiku gotoshi

このころの恋の繁けく夏草の
刈り掃へども生ひしくごとし

Roma-ji: Kono koro no koi no shigekeku natsukusa no kariharaedomo oishiku gotoshi
English Translation: In these days of late,
the thickness of my longing—
like the summer grass
though I cut and clear it off,
it grows back again, and thick.
Meaning: The thickness of my longing these days is like summer grass—though I cut it down and clear it away, it keeps growing back.
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Love Poems 1984

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love Expressed Through Grasses"
This poem likens the unceasing longing of these days to summer grass that grows back however often it is cut. The intensity of a love that wells up no matter how often it is swept away is expressed vigorously through the vitality of summer grass. Whereas the preceding poem used summer grass as a figure for gossip, this one makes it a figure for love itself.

The first line, "of these days," sets the time.
In the second line, "koi no shigekeku," "shigekeku" is the nominalized form of "shigeshi": the thickness of love.
The third line, "summer grass," is the object of comparison.
In the fourth line, "kariharaedomo," "domo" is adversative: though I cut and clear it.
In the last line, "oishiku gotoshi," "shiku" means to pile up or come thick, giving: it is like growing back again and again. It closes by stating the simile.
Source: Manyoshu
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