Ika ni shite wasuremu mono zo wagimoko ni koi wa masaredo wasuraenaku ni

いかにして忘れむものぞ我妹子に
恋はまされど忘らえなくに

Roma-ji: Ika ni shite wasuremu mono zo wagimoko ni koi wa masaredo wasuraenaku ni
English Translation: In what way at all
am I ever to forget?
For my dearest love
my longing only grows more,
and I cannot forget her
Meaning: How am I ever to forget? My longing for my beloved only grows, and I cannot forget her.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2597

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
A man tries to forget, yet his longing for his beloved only grows and he cannot forget, and he is at a loss as to how he might. By placing the word "forget" at both the beginning and the end, the poem frankly expresses the contradiction of love: wanting to forget and being unable to.
Taking up the lament of the preceding poem that love grows with every month and day, this poem too speaks of mounting love and describes a heart that tries to escape it but cannot.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "ika ni shite": "in what way." Framed as a question about method, it expresses the pain of having no means to forget.
Second line, "wasuremu mono zo": "am I to forget?" "Mono zo" strengthens the question, and the sense breaks after the second line.
Third line, "wagimoko ni": "for my dear wife." "Wagimoko" is the word a man uses to address his wife or lover with affection.
Fourth line, "koi wa masaredo": "though love grows greater." "Masaru" means to increase in degree, and "do" leads on as a contrast.
Fifth line, "wasuraenaku ni": "and yet I cannot forget." "Wasurae" is "wasuru" with the potential auxiliary "yu," and "naku ni" is the nominalized negative with "ni," closing with feeling. It repeats the "forget" of the second line.
Source: Manyoshu
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