Aimite wa nagusamu ya to zo omoishi ni nagori shimo koso koishikarikere - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あひ見ては慰むやとぞ思ひしに
なごりしもこそ恋しかりけれ

Roma-ji: Aimite wa nagusamu ya to zo omoishi ni nagori shimo koso koishikarikere
English Translation: I thought that meeting
might bring my heart some comfort,
and yet, in truth,
it is the lingering after
that fills me with such longing
Meaning: I had thought that seeing you would bring me some comfort, but it is the lingering trace you leave behind that makes me long for you all the more.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 794

Headnote: "Sent after returning home from a lover's house."
The poet says he thought meeting would comfort him, but it is the lingering afterglow that he longs for most. He voices how a love he thought would be satisfied by meeting only deepens with the traces left after parting.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent after he came home from a lover's house. It closes Love Poems III: where the opening poem, 700, wished for a way to come and meet unseen, this poem ends the book with a longing that grows still stronger after meeting.
The poet, listed as "Sakanoue Korenori," was Sakanoue no Korenori. A descendant of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, he served as Assistant Governor of Kaga among other posts. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, his "asaborake ariake no tsuki to miru made ni" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The first line, "Aimite wa," means "if we met." Like "aimite mo" in the first lines of 728 and 790 in this book, it sings of feelings after meeting.
The second line, "nagusamu ya to zo," means "that it might bring comfort," with "ya" interrogative and "zo" an emphatic particle.
The third line, "omoishi ni," means "I thought, and yet."
The fourth line, "nagori shimo koso," means "it is the lingering trace," with "shimo" emphatic and "koso" an emphatic binding particle. "Nagori" also appears in the last line of 710 in this book.
The last line, "koishikarikere," means "that I long for," closing with the perfective "kere" in answer to "koso" in the fourth line, a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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