Love and tales.[i]
| wakarenishi mukashi wa tsuyu ka asajiwara ato naki nobe ni akikaze zo fuku | Since they were parted, Were those ancient times dewdrop brief? Across the cogon grass Upon the trackless plain The autumn wind is blowing! |
546
[i] The ‘tale’ here is the Song of Everlasting Woe about the doomed love between Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong
Round Ten
Left
秋はぎの下葉の露にあらねども消えぬばかりぞ人は恋しき
| akihagi no shitaba no tsuyu ni aranedomo kienu bakari zo hito wa koishiki | Upon the autumn bush clover’s Underleaves a dewdrop I am not, yet Simply will I fade away So much do I love him! |
Taiyu no Suke
19
Right
わすられて年ふる里の浅茅生に誰がためしける萩の錦ぞ
| wasurarete toshi furu sato no asajū ni ta ga tame shikeru hagi no nishiki zo | All forgotten Through the passing years, at my home Among the tangled mugwort, For whose sake is spread The bush clover’s brocade? |
The Daughter of His Excellency, the Head
20
I feel that the poem of the Left is conspicuously poetic, saying ‘Simply will I fade away / So much do I love him!’ while the poem of the Right’s ‘Through the passing years, at my home / Among the tangled mugwort, / For whose sake is spread / The bush clover’s brocade?’ makes me want to ask the bush clover the same question! The pull my heart in more than one direction, so here, too, I feel it’s not possible to decide on a winner or loser.
Left
ゆふざれもさらにまたれずあさぼらけおきゆくみちのつゆとけぬべし
| yūzare mo sara ni matarezu asaborake okiyuku michi no tsuyu to kenubeshi | For eventide, Again, I cannot wait, but At the dawning Rise and go—my path filled With lasting dew, it seems. |
24
Right
あはぬよはわびてもねにきあかつきのわかれのみちはまどはれぞする
| awanu yo wa wabite mo ne ni ki akatsuki no wakare no michi wa madoware zo suru | Nights we fail to meet Are desolate, but when I have come and slept with you The dawn’s Parting path Leaves me lost! |
25
On waiting for love through the years, when folk had composed poetry.[i]
故郷のあさぢが露にむすぼほれひとりなく虫の人をうらむる
| furusato no asaji ga tsuyu ni musubōre hitori naku mushi no hito o uramuru | At this ancient estate The cogon grass by dew Is held fast, as All alone a single insect cries, Hating that man… |
513
Left
織女の年に一たび逢ふものをなどわが恋のはるけかるらむ
| tanabata no toshi ni hito tabi au mono o nado wa ga koi no harukekaruramu | The Weaver Maid But once a year A meeting may have, but Why is it my love Does seem to grow ever distant? |
13
Right
つゆに露われもろともにおきゐつつ恋する身さへ消えぬべきかな
| tsuyu ni tsuyu ware morotomo ni oki’itsutsu koisuru mi sae kienubeki kana | Dewfall upon dewdrops, Both do I Let ever fall— Love fills my flesh so It could fade away! |
14
Love at a mountain retreat the morning after[i]
消えなまし今朝尋ねずは山しろの人こぬやどのみちしばの露
| kienamashi kesa tazunezu wa yamashiro no hito konu yado no michishiba no tsuyu | I would fade away! This morning, unvisited In Yamashiro At a place where no one comes With the dew upon the roadside grasses… |
507
