Left (Tie)
出にける君が夜床の狭筵にひとり寝してや肌を触れまし
idenikeru
kimi ga yodoko no
samushiro ni
hitorineshite ya
hada o furemashi |
Departed
Is he from our bed tonight, so
On his blanket
Should I sleep alone,
Might I touch his skin? |
Kenshō
1129
Right
綾むしろ立ち寄る人はなけれどもあらましにのみ敷きてこそ待て
ayamushiro
tachiyoru hito wa
nakeredomo
aramashi ni nomi
shikite koso mate |
To my patterned blanket
He has not
Drawn near, yet
In simple longing
Will I spread it and await him… |
Lord Tsune’ie
1130
Both Left and Right together state: this seems somewhat jocular.
In judgement: the Left’s conception of starting with ‘departed’ (idenikeru), as the poem of a woman sleeping alone and finding traces of a the man who has left on the blanket, sounds extremely poor in style. On the other hand, if it is a man’s poem, has he come upon the traces of a woman after she has left? In any case, whichever it is the initial line is not good at all. The Right’s poem, with its ‘to my patterned blanket he has not drawn near, yet’ (ayamushiro tachiyoru hito wa nakeredomo), also appears to be a woman’s poem. The Left’s humour, and the Right’s longing, are both eccentric. The round must tie.