Aimite wa ikuhisasa ni mo aranedomo toshitsuki no goto omōyuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ひ見ては幾久さにもあらねども
年月のごと思ほゆるかな

Roma-ji: Aimite wa ikuhisasa ni mo aranedomo toshitsuki no goto omōyuru kana
English Translation: Since we met and loved,
not so very long a time
has passed us by, yet
it seems to me as though
months and years had gone.
Meaning: Since we met, not so very long has passed, yet it seems to me like months and years.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 744

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that though not much time has passed since the lovers met, it seems as though months and years have gone by. It expresses the depth of longing through how long the time apart feels. Together with the next poem, 745, poems by Hitomaro on the length of time stand side by side. Where this poem feels a short span of days as long as months and years, the next sings of the joy of meeting after long years, the two pairing "toshitsuki," years and months, with "tsukihi," months and days.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet of the Asuka period, he is revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. The Shūishū includes many Man'yōshū poems under his name.

First line, "aimite wa," means "since we met," the same line as the first line of 711 in this book, "aimite wa."
Second line, "ikuhisasa ni mo," means "for so very long."
Third line, "aranedomo," means "though it has not been," with "ne" the perfective form of the negative "zu" and "domo" concessive.
Fourth line, "toshitsuki no goto," means "like years and months," pairing in its sense of time with the first line of the next poem, 745, "toshi o hete," and its fourth line, "tsukihi nomi koso."
Final line, "omōyuru kana," means "how it seems," with "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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