Aimite wa koi nagusamu to hito wa iedo mite nochi ni zo mo koi masarikeru

相見ては恋慰むと人は言へど
見て後にぞも恋まさりける

Roma-ji: Aimite wa koi nagusamu to hito wa iedo mite nochi ni zo mo koi masarikeru
English Translation: When we meet at last,
so people say, love is soothed;
that is what they claim,
yet it is after meeting
that my longing only grows
Meaning: People say that meeting eases the pain of love, yet it is after we have met that my longing only grows stronger.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2567

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
People say that meeting soothes the pain of love, yet in truth longing grows only stronger after meeting: this poem speaks of a love that never runs dry. It sets what others say against what the speaker has learned firsthand, and frankly conveys surprise at a heart that, far from being satisfied by meeting, yearns all the more.
It belongs to the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly," which states the heart's thoughts without speaking through objects. Poems 2539, 2554 and 2583 in this book likewise open with "aimite wa," and the state of the heart after a lovers' meeting is a recurring theme in the love poems of Book Eleven of the Man'yoshu. In particular, poem 2579, a little later, says that meeting has calmed the heart, presenting the opposite mood to this poem.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "aimite wa": "once we have met." It refers to a meeting between lovers, and the particle "wa" sets up the condition.
Second line, "koi nagusamu to": "love will be soothed." The particle "to" quotes what people say.
Third line, "hito wa iedo": "so people say, but." This line has an extra syllable, and the concessive "do" accepts the common view while turning toward the speaker's contrary experience.
Fourth line, "mite nochi ni zo mo": "it is after meeting, indeed." The emphatic particle "zo" reinforced by "mo" highlights the fact that runs counter to common wisdom.
Fifth line, "koi masarikeru": "my longing has only grown." The auxiliary "keri" expresses the wonder of a new realization, and it closes in the attributive form "keru" in agreement with "zo" in the fourth line.
Source: Manyoshu
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