Love II: 28

Left (Tie).

つれもなく逢ふに命のながらへて今日は別れに変るべき哉

tsure mo naku
au ni inochi no
nagaraete
kyō wa wakare ni
kawarubeki kana
How cruel it is, that
Through meeting life
Continued on, and yet
From today to parting
It must change…

Lord Ari’ie

715

Right.

逢までの思は事の数ならで別れぞ戀の始め成りける

au made no
omou wa koto no
kazu narade
wakare zo koi no
hajimenarikeru
Until the point of meeting
One’s thoughts are
Nothing special;
It is on parting that love
Finds its true beginning!

Jakuren

716

The Gentlemen of the Right state: we find no faults in the Left’s poem. The Gentlemen of the Left state: if one followed the pattern of the Right’s poem, there would seem to be little love at all!

Shunzei’s judgement: the style of both poems is elegant. They must tie.

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