Omou tote ito koso hito ni narezarame shika naraite zo mineba koishiki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふとていとこそ人に慣れざらめ
しか慣らひてぞ見ねば恋しき

Roma-ji: Omou tote ito koso hito ni narezarame shika naraite zo mineba koishiki
English Translation: Though you love someone,
do not grow too close to them;
it is because
I have grown so used to you
that unseen, I long for you.
Meaning: However much you love someone, do not grow too used to them; it is because I have grown so used to you that I long for you so when we are apart.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 900

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that one should not grow too familiar with someone just because one loves them; it is because one has grown used to them that not seeing them is so unbearable. It states a truth of the heart in love: the deeper the intimacy, the greater the longing when one cannot meet.

First line, "omou tote," means "just because one loves."
Second line, "ito koso hito ni," means "so very much, with another," with "ito" meaning very and the binding particle "koso" giving emphasis. As if taking up "shiraito" of the preceding poem, 899, the sound "ito" is set here.
Third line, "narezarame," means "one should not grow familiar," concluding in "me," the realis of the conjectural "mu," in answer to "koso." The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "shika naraite zo," means "precisely because one has grown so used," with "shika" meaning "so." "Nare" in the third line and "narai" in the fourth layer the idea of growing used. With "narawashi" in the next poem, 901, two poems on habit stand side by side.
Final line, "mineba koishiki," means "when I do not see you, I long for you," concluding in the attributive of the adjective "koishi" in answer to the binding particle "zo."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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