Round Eighteen

Left (Tie)

人しれずあふをまつまにこひしなばなににかへたるいのちとかいはん

hito shirezu au o matsu ma ni koishinaba nani ni kaetaru inochi to ka iwan

Unknown to all, While pining to meet with you Should I die of love, Then what compensation For my life might I request?

Hon’in Jijū
35

Right

ことならばくもゐの月となりななむこひしきかげやそらにみゆると

koto naraba kumoi no tsuki to nari na namu koishiki kage ya sora ni miyuru to

Should that be the case, then Above the clouds, the moon I would you become, that Your beloved light I would behold within the skies…

Nakatsukasa
36

The Left’s poem really tells it like it is! The Right’s poem seems to have identical characters beginning its first and fourth lines, and this is a bit distasteful. When I asked how this should be measured, neither Left nor Right said anything. Then the Left seemed to mutter, ‘My poem doesn’t use these characters,’ but I don’t see this as a fault worth mentioning, so thus I make this tie.