Round One Hundred and Forty-Four

Left

あふことはこれやかぎりの旅ならん草のまくらも霜がれにけり

au koto wa kore ya kagiri no tabi naran kusa no makura mo shimogarenikeri

Will our meeting Here be the limit of Our journey? Our grassy pillow Seared by distant frosts…

287[1]

Right

おひかぜに八重のしほぢをこぐ舟のほのかにだにもあひみてしかな

oikaze ni yae no shioji o kogu fune no honoka ni dani mo aimiteshi kana

The pursuing wind Tracks ‘cross eightfold tidal paths To reach the boat a’rowing out, Its sails, so distant, but Even a glimpse of you would do!

288[2]

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[1] Shinkokinshū XIII: 1209: Major Captain of the Left Asamitsu had not visited her for a long time, when he came to see her on her travels; having no pillow, they wove one out of grass.

[2] Shinkokinshū XI: 1072: When His Majesty’s gentlemen were composing poems on love and the wind, during the reign of former emperor Toba.