Round Fifty-One

Left

したにのみおもへばくるし玉のをのたえてみだれん人なとがめそ

shita ni nomi omoeba kurushi tama no o no taete midaren hito na togame so

Simply beneath the surface Lies my passion, so ‘tis painful— My jewelled thread of life Might snap in tangles and Let no one blame me for it![i]

101[ii]

Right

いまはとてねなましものをしぐれつる空ともみえずすめる月かな

ima wa tote nenamashi mono o shiguretsuru sora tomo miezu sumeru tsuki kana

Now, I think, I would to bed, yet The showers that Filled the skies have vanished, and The moon shines so clear!

102[iii]

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[i] A minor variant of this poem, which replaces omeba (feel [passion, so’] with koureba (‘feel love, so’) occurs in Kokinshū (XIII: 677).

[ii] KKRJ V: 3215: Jewelled threads

[iii] SKKS VI: 600: On the conception of the moon in winter after the rain.