Round Two

Left

人しれずはれぬ歎きの有るものを普くてらせ秋のよの月

hito shirezu harenu nageki no aru mono o amaneku terase aki no yo no tsuki

Unknown to all A grief which never clears I have, so Shine without restraint, O, moon this autumn night!

His Excellency, Nagazane, Former Assistant Governor General of Dazai
3

Right

山の端のうき雲晴れてすみのぼる月と共にもゆくこころかな

yama no ha no ukigumo harete suminoboru tsuki to tomo ni yuku kokoro kana

At the mountains’ edge The drifting clouds unfurl, and Clearly climbing With the moon Goes my spirit!

Lady Hyōenokami
4

In the poem of the Left, the expression following ‘A grief which never clears / I have, so’ is both forceful and lacking in gentility; in addition, the poem of the Right’s ‘drifting clouds clear away’ and what follows seems stagnant, so the light of the moon these nights seems to be of the same standard.