Yo to tomo ni koitsutsu suguru toshitsuki wa kawaredo kawaru kokochi koso sene - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世とともに恋ひつつ過ぐる年月は
変はれど変はる心地こそせね

Roma-ji: Yo to tomo ni koitsutsu suguru toshitsuki wa kawaredo kawaru kokochi koso sene
English Translation: Through all my life long
the years and months I spend
in longing for you
may change, yet still I feel
that nothing ever changes
Meaning: The years and months I pass in endless longing come and go, yet it never feels as if anything has changed.
Commentary: Book Seven Love Poems I 192

The poet laments that though he has spent long years in love, and the years themselves have turned, the pain of his love has not changed at all. The poem rests on the contrast between passing time and an unchanging heart.

The first line, "yo to tomo ni" (all my life long), shows how long the love has lasted.
The second line, "koitsutsu suguru," uses the continuative "tsutsu" to express days spent in ceaseless longing.
The third line, "toshitsuki wa" (the years and months), sets time as the topic with the particle "wa."
The fourth line, "kawaredo kawaru," repeats the same verb across a concessive, sharpening the contrast between changing years and an unchanged heart.
The final line, "kokochi koso sene," forms a kakari-musubi of "koso" with the perfective negative "ne," stating firmly that it does not feel like change.
Source: Shika Wakashu
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