When a woman he had been conversing with turned cold, after he was unable to meet her.
あはれともいふべき人はおもほえで身のいたづらになりぬべきかな
| aFare to mo iFubeki Fito Fa omoFoede mi no itadura ni narinubeki kana | ‘That’s sad…’— Someone to say it: There’s none I can recall, so My death, That’s how it will be![i] |
The Ichijō Regent
[i] Also Ogura hyakunin isshu 45.
Left (Win)
あはれにぞ鳴あかすなる蛬われのみしぼる袖かと思ふに
| aware ni zo nakiakasunaru kirigirisu ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni |
How sad it is – Crying with the dawn is The cricket, though I alone am wringing Out my sleeves, I feel. |
Lord Suetsune
1075
Right
露深きあはれを思へきりぎりす枕の下の秋の夕暮
| tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe kirigirisu makura no shita no aki no yūgure |
Deep in dew and Sad, I wish you were, O, cricket, Beneath my pillow On this autumn evening… |
Nobusada
1076
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults we can mention. The Gentlemen of the Left state: our feelings are the same as those of the Right
In judgement: both Left and Right are on ‘crickets’ (kirigirisu) and their configuration and diction sound equally elegantly beautiful. I feel that the Right, with ‘deep in dew and sad, I wish you were’ (tsuyu fukaki aware o omoe), is somewhat lacking in the conception of the poet’s own love, but the Left, with ‘I alone am wringing out my sleeves, I feel’ (ware nomi shiboru sode ka to omou ni), has an excellent conception of love, so I must state that the Left is the winner.