Left.

妹が嶋荒磯に寄る浮き海松の憂きをも見るは見ぬにまされり

imo ga shima ara’iso ni yoru uki miru no uki o mo miru wa minu ni masareri

At Imogashima’s Rocky shore Floats seaweed; The sorrow on seeing her Is better that the sorrow of not…

Kenshō.

643

Right.

思かね澤の根芹を摘みてだに心のあとをいかで殘さむ

omoikane sawa no nezeri o tsumite dani kokoro no ato o ikade nokosamu

I cannot feel more: Dropwort from the marshes Plucked – exhausted, A trace of this love within my heart: How might I recall it?

Ietaka..

644

Neither Left nor Right finds any fault this round.

Shunzei’s judgement: The final section of the Left’s poem a kind of charming form [hitotsu no sugata nite okashiku haberu], but ‘rocky shore’ (ara’iso) sounds frightful [osoroshiku kikoehabere]. The Right’s ‘plucking dropwort’ (seri tsumu) is archaic, but not objectionable [furugoto nareba nadarakani wa haberubeki], but saying ‘a trace within my heart’ (kokoro no ato o) gives an extremely relaxed and vague feeling [itaku kasumeru kokochishite], and so it is difficult to say that either poem is better.