Wasuru ya to nagaraeyukedo mi ni soite koishiki koto wa okurezarikeri - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

忘るやとながらへゆけど身に添ひて
恋しきことはおくれざりけり

Roma-ji: Wasuru ya to nagaraeyukedo mi ni soite koishiki koto wa okurezarikeri
English Translation: Hoping I'd forget,
I have lived on all this while,
yet clinging to me,
the longing in my heart
has never once fallen behind
Meaning: I lived on, hoping that I might forget, but my longing has clung to me and never once fallen behind.
Commentary: Book Seven Love Poems I 201

The poet has gone on living in the hope that time would bring forgetting, but longing has followed him like a shadow and could not be left behind. Personifying love as a companion clinging to him, the poem conveys the depth of a feeling he cannot forget.

The first line, "wasuru ya to" (wondering if I might forget), shows a hope with the particle "ya."
The second line, "nagaraeyukedo," uses the concessive "do": though I go on living.
The third line, "mi ni soite" (clinging to me), personifies longing as a companion that never leaves.
The fourth line, "koishiki koto wa," sets longing as the topic with "wa."
The final line, "okurezarikeri," ends with the exclamatory "keri," realizing that longing has never fallen behind.
Author: Taira no Kanemori
Source: Shika Wakashu
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