Having fallen ill and long been in seclusion, he recovered somewhat and, attending at the palace, met with Major Controller of the Right Kintada, who was then a chamberlain. He left, saying that he would surely return the day after tomorrow, but his illness worsened and approaching his end, he sent this to Kintada.
くやしくぞ のちにあはむと 契りける 今日をかぎりと 言はましものを
kuyashiku zo nochi ni awamu to chigirikeru kyō o kagiri to iwamashi mono o
I am struck with bitterness! Once more would we meet Did I vow, but Today I meet my end— That is what I would say…
ukibito o wasurehatenade wasuregawa nani tote taezu koi wataruran
That cruel girl I am unable to ever forget, Even by Wasure—Forgetting—River Why is it that endlessly My love continues on?
Lord Tadafusa 67
Right
恋すてふこひはこれにて限りてん後にもかかる物をこそおもへ
koisu chō koi wa kore nite kagiriten nochi ni mo kakaru mono o koso omoe
Love, they say, Of love right here Let’s make an end! But later, still such Painful feelings will I have…
Lord Munekuni 68
Toshiyori states: the first poem has nothing special about it—poems of this quality are unremarkable. The later poem says, ‘Of love right here / Let’s make an end!’—is it saying that the poet will fall in love with someone else? It’s difficult to say that he’d do that from the following day. It’s vague and doesn’t sound clear. These poems are of the same quality, aren’t they.
Mototoshi states: while neither of these has any faults, the Right’s ‘right here let’s make an end’ seems particularly undesirable. ‘Why is it that endlessly’ is slightly more poetic in the current context, I feel.
