Wasuru ya to monogatari shite kokoroyari sugusedo sugizu nao koinikeri

忘るやと物語りして心遣り
過ぐせど過ぎずなほ恋ひにけり

Roma-ji: Wasuru ya to monogatari shite kokoroyari sugusedo sugizu nao koinikeri
English Translation: Hoping to forget,
I talked the hours away
to ease my heart,
yet though I let it pass, it would not pass;
still I found myself in love
Meaning: Hoping I might forget, I chatted with others to lighten my heart and let the feeling pass, but it would not pass, and I found myself longing all the same.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2845

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poet tried to distract the pain of love by talking with others, only to find the feeling grew stronger. The effort to forget and its failure are summed up neatly in the repetition of a single verb.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet who served under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note shows that this poem was taken from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, though scholars differ on whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a song he recorded.

Line one, "wasuru ya to," means "wondering if I might forget," with "ya" an interrogative particle.
Line two, "monogatari shite," refers to talking with others as an attempt to divert the pain of love.
Line three, "kokoroyari," means clearing the mind, a diversion.
Line four, "sugusedo sugizu," means "though I tried to let it pass, it did not pass"; the doubled verb impresses on us a feeling that will not fade.
Line five, "nao koinikeri": "nikeri" combines completion and exclamation, expressing the sigh of realizing "after all, I am in love."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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