Left.
物思へばひま行く駒も忘られてくらす涙を先おさふらん
| mono’omoeba hima yuku koma mo wasurarete kurasu namida o mazu osauran |
Sunk in gloomy thought, That the hours had flown so fast I did forget; First, the tears shadowing my sight I should suppress… |
A Servant Girl.
805
Right (Win).
人知れぬ戀忘れ貝拾ひかね塩の干る間も袖は濡れけり
| hito shirenu koi wasuregai hiroikane shio no hiru ma mo sode wa nurekeri |
Unknown to all is My love, and a forgotten mussel shell I could not find, so Even when the beach is daytime dry My sleeves are soaked. |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
806
The Right state: while ‘shadowed’ (kakikurasu) is a normal turn of phrase, we find ‘tears shadowing my sight’ (kurasu namida) to be unsatisfactory. The Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of using shio no hiru ma alone for a play on words with hiru.
In judgement: The Left’s ‘That the hours had flown so fast I did forget’ (hima yuku koma mo wasurarete) gives the impression that the conception of the poem ought to be of waiting for dusk, but ‘First, the tears shadowing my sight I should suppress’ (kurasu namida o mazu osauran) seems to be something entirely different. As for the Right’s ‘Even when the beach is daytime dry my sleeves are soaked’ (shio no hiru ma mo sode wa nurekeri), I ask you, how can you think daytime isn’t a part of the phrase? The Right must win.