Hi narabeba hito shirinubeshi kyō no hi wa chitose no goto mo arikosenu kamo

日並べば人知りぬべし今日の日は
千年のごともありこせぬかも

Roma-ji: Hi narabeba hito shirinubeshi kyō no hi wa chitose no goto mo arikosenu kamo
English Translation: If we meet day on day,
others surely will find out;
this day, today,
as if it were a thousand years,
would that it might last for us
Meaning: If we meet day after day, people are sure to find out; if only this one day today could last like a thousand years.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2387

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
If they meet day after day, others will surely learn of it, so the speaker wishes that at least this one day might last as long as a thousand years. Because the love must be hidden from others, the poem shows a feeling of cherishing without limit the single day they are able to meet.
The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." The phrase "chitose no goto mo" is also used in poem 2381. There the speaker laments two nights apart that feel like a thousand years, whereas here the speaker wishes that a day together might last like a thousand years, so that the same phrase expresses a reversed feeling.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "hi narabeba": "if we line the days up," that is, meet day after day. "Narabe" is the realis form of "narabu" with the particle "ba," stating a condition that always holds: "whenever days are strung together."
Second line, "hito shirinubeshi": "others are sure to know." The perfective auxiliary "nu" with the conjectural "beshi" expresses certainty, and the poem pauses here after the second line.
Third line, "kyō no hi wa": "this day of today." The particle "wa" singles out this one day on which they can meet.
Fourth line, "chitose no goto mo": "as if a thousand years." An exaggeration of wishing to stretch a single day into a thousand years.
Fifth line, "arikosenu kamo": "would that it might be so." "Kose" is the irrealis form of "kosu," an auxiliary of wishing something of others, and with "nu kamo" it expresses a strong wish.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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