Aimite wa ikubisasa ni mo aranaku ni toshitsuki no goto omōyuru kamo

相見ては幾久さにもあらなくに
年月のごと思ほゆるかも

Roma-ji: Aimite wa ikubisasa ni mo aranaku ni toshitsuki no goto omōyuru kamo
English Translation: Since we met, my love,
how long has it been? not long,
barely any time,
yet as if years and months had passed,
so it seems to me, alas
Meaning: Since we met, hardly any time has passed, yet it feels to me as though years and months have gone by.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2583

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Hardly any time has passed since they met, yet it feels as if years have gone by: the poem tells of how long time seems while lovers are apart. It frankly expresses a heart in which, out of longing, a few days come to feel like years.
It belongs to the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." Like poem 2567 of this book, it opens with "aimite wa," and it also shares the theme of the heart after a meeting. Its ingenuity lies in setting a few days against years and months, measuring the same span of time on different scales.
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": "since we met." It is the same line that opens poem 2567 of this book, beginning with the time after a meeting.
Second line, "ikubisasa ni mo": "for any length of time." "Ikubisasa" asks how long, implying that only a few days have passed.
Third line, "aranaku ni": "though it is not." It is the nominalized form of the negative auxiliary "zu" followed by "ni," expressing contrast.
Fourth line, "toshitsuki no goto": "like years and months." The comparative "goto" likens the short days to long years.
Fifth line, "omōyuru kamo": "so it seems to me." "Omōyu" means that a thought arises of itself, and the final particle "kamo" adds a note of wonder.
Source: Manyoshu
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