Omou na to kimi wa iedomo au koto o itsu to shirite ka waga koizaran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふなと君は言へども逢ふことを
いつと知りてか我が恋ひざらん

Roma-ji: Omou na to kimi wa iedomo au koto o itsu to shirite ka waga koizaran
English Translation: "Do not love me so,"
so you say, my love, but how
could I cease to long
when I cannot know the day
that we two shall meet again?
Meaning: You tell me not to love you, but how could I keep from longing when I do not know when we shall meet?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 756

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that though the beloved tells the poet not to love, he cannot help longing when he does not know when they will meet. To one who asks him to give up his love, he pleads that a man with no promise of a meeting cannot keep from longing. The next poem, 757, by Minamoto no Shitagō, written in response to the Man'yōshū, takes up the "omou" of this poem and answers it.
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, "omou na to," means "do not love," with "na" a final particle of prohibition. It answers the first line of the next poem, 757, "omouramu," in singing of the loving heart.
Second line, "kimi wa iedomo," means "though you say."
Third line, "au koto o," means "our meeting."
Fourth line, "itsu to shirite ka," means "knowing when," with the binding particle "ka" rhetorical and resolved by the attributive "n" in the final line.
Final line, "waga koizaran," means "could I keep from longing," the rhetorical form showing that he cannot help longing.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Asu shiranu waga mi nari tomo urami okamu kono yo nite nomi yamaji to omoeba
Next Poem: Omouramu kokoro no uchi o shiranu mi wa shinu bakari ni mo araji to zo omou