classic waka stream

明日香川水行きまさりいや日異に
恋のまさらばありかつましじ
Roma-ji

Asukagawa mizu yukimasari iya hi ke ni koi no masaraba arikatsu mashiji

English Translation
The Asuka stream
swells as its waters flow on;
if day after day
my love should swell ever more,
I could not bear to live on
Meaning
As the waters of the Asuka River rise and rise, if my love should grow greater with every passing day, I could not go on living.
Commentary
Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2702

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As the waters of the Asuka River rise, if my longing should grow day by day, I could not go on living: so this poem laments. It lays the irrepressibly mounting feelings of love over the force of a swelling river.
This is a poem on a river, and the first two lines form a preface that repeats the word "masari" to lead into "masara" in the fourth line. Like the preceding poem it begins with "Asukagawa"; where that poem speaks of an unchanging heart that will cross again tomorrow, this one speaks of the pain of a love that grows day after day.
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, "asukagawa": the river that flows through Asuka. Beginning with the same line as the preceding poem, it ties the two together.
Second line, "mizu yukimasari": "its waters flow and swell." The first two lines form a preface, repeating "masari" to lead into "masara" in the fourth line.
Third line, "iya hi ke ni": "more and more with each day." "Iya" means ever more and "hi ke ni" day by day, depicting a love that keeps mounting.
Fourth line, "koi no masaraba": "if love should grow." "Masara" is the irrealis of "masaru" and "ba" marks a supposition, echoing the preface's "mizu yukimasari."
Fifth line, "arikatsu mashiji": "I could not bear to live." "Katsu" means to be able to bear, and "mashiji" is a negative conjectural auxiliary, stating outright the lament that one cannot bear the weight of love.
Source
Manyoshu
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