Left.
見ずもあらず見もせぬ中の故にだに人は思ひのつかぬ物かは
| mizu mo arazu mi mo senu naka no yue ni dani hito wa omoi no tukanu mono ka wa |
‘Not unseen Yet not seen’ Is enough; But what, then, Of my thoughts for you? |
641
Right (Win).
見ればけになかなかにとてうとくとも猶面影の離るべきかは
| mireba keni nakanakani tote utokutomo nao omokage no hanarubeki kawa |
Having met you Sometime Cruel you may be but Still your face Stays with me always… |
642
The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem, but say that it is commonplace [mezurashikiniarazu]. The Left mention that it is difficult to hear the 5-7-7 pattern at the beginning of the Right’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement: ‘The Left’s poem follows one from The Tales of Ise. The gentlemen of the Left have remarked that the Right’s mireba keni is difficult to understand. Keni is certainly standard poetic diction. The total conception [kokoro] of the poem is extremely difficult to grasp [ito kikiwakarenu sama], but in terms of total configuration [uta sugata] it is superior.’