Left (Tie).
幾かへり我身の憂さも知らずして心尽しの人を戀ふらん
iku kaeri
wa ga mi no usa mo
shirazushite
kokoro tsukushi no
hito o kouran |
How deep is
My despair?
I do not know, but
My heart, exhausted is in Tsukushi,
With the one I love… |
Lord Kanemune.
867
Right.
君が住む阿武隈河は名のみしてよそながらのみ戀や渡覧
kimi ga sumu
abukumagawa wa
na nomi shite
yoso nagara nomi
koi ya wataruran |
My darling dwells by
Abukuma River – known for meeting –
But that is all:
Simply far apart
Will our love ever be? |
Lord Tsune’ie.
868
Both Left and Right state: the poem sounds antiquated.
In judgement: the Left’s ‘how deep is’ (iku kaeri) and the Right’s ‘simply far apart’ (yoso nagara nomi) once again, are of the same standard.
When I went to Usa as messenger, I sent this to a lady’s house.
いかにせむ宇佐の使はゆるされず戀しき人はいでの玉水
ika ni semu
usa no tukaFi Fa
yurusarezu
koFisiki Fito Fa
ide no tamamidu |
What am I to do?
To go as messenger to Usa
I am powerless to refuse; yet
The lady I love is
Inconstant as Ide’s jewelled waters… |
In reply to what was written by the Gentleman-in-Waiting to the Lay Priest upon a silver water-horn, when I was to go down to Usa.
むすぶ手の別れとおもふにいとゞしくこのみづゝのに袖ぞ濡れける
musubu te no
wakare to omoFu ni
itodosiku
kono midutuno ni
sode zo nurekeru |
Our clasped hands
Parting, were in my thoughts, so
Certain it was that
This water-horn would
Soak my sleeves. |
When I had returned from Usa, having pleaded for a comb from a lady at the palace:
來し道にけづるともなき旅人のたむけの神につくしはてゝき
kosi miti ni
keduru tomo naki
tabibito no
tamuke no kami ni
tukusi Fateteki |
Homeward bound,
With unkempt hair
This traveller
His offerings to the gods
Has quite exhausted. |
'Simply moving and elegant'