Shimashiku mo minuba kohoshiki wagimoko o hi ni hi ni kureba koto no shigekeku

しましくも見ぬば恋ほしき我妹子を
日に日に来れば言の繁けく

Roma-ji: Shimashiku mo minuba kohoshiki wagimoko o hi ni hi ni kureba koto no shigekeku
English Translation: Even for a while
not to see her is longing,
this darling of mine;
day by day I come to her,
and how thick the gossip grows
Meaning: My beloved, whom I long for if I do not see her even for a little while: because I come to her day after day, how thick the gossip grows.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2397

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Because he visits every day the beloved he longs for whenever he goes even a short while without seeing her, the speaker laments that the gossip is unbearable. The poem catches him caught between a love that cannot keep away and the talk of the world that it stirs up.
The next poem also closes with "koto no shigekeku," so the two are bound by the same line. While this poem laments the gossip from the side of the man who visits daily, the next laments from the woman's side that rumors arise because of the man she trusts, forming a pair that treats the same trouble from the positions of man and woman.
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, "shimashiku mo": "even for a little while," expressing that even the briefest time without seeing her matters.
Second line, "minuba kohoshiki": "longed for when not seen." "Minuba" is regarded as an older form of "mineba," the negative "zu" with "ba" expressing a condition.
Third line, "wagimoko o": "my dear wife, my beloved," an affectionate form of address; the particle "o" carries on to "kureba" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "hi ni hi ni kureba": "since I come day after day." "Come" expresses going to her place as seen from her side.
Fifth line, "koto no shigekeku": "how thick the gossip is." "Shigekeku" is the nominalized form of the adjective "shigeshi," ending the poem like a noun with a sigh. It is the same line that closes the next poem.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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