Left.
偽りの言の葉ならんと思へども契はなをも情成けり
| itsuwari no koto no ha naran to omoedomo chigiri wa nao mo nasake narikeri |
Lying Words they must be, I thought, but That vow was, indeed, Made with feeling! |
677
Right (Win).
頼むべき榻の丸寢の言の葉は思ひ絶えねと言はぬばかりぞ
| tanomubeki shiji no marune no koto no ha wa omoitaene to iwanu bakari zo |
‘Trust that, if you Sleep full-clothed on the carriage stoop…’ Those words of hers – Forget them! Oh, don’t tell me that! |
678
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left has no deeper significance. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the Right’s poem introduces the diction of ‘sleep full-clothed on the carriage stoop’ (shiji no marune), but it then sounds as if there is no further development.
Shunzei’s judgement: while it does, indeed, sound as if ‘sleep full-clothed on the carriage stoop’ has no connection with the remainder of the poem, everything from ‘that vow was, indeed’ (chigiri wa nao) is poor; I must say the Right is superior.