A Hundred Verses from Old Japan/Poem 84
84
FUJIWARA NO KIYOSUKE ASON
Nagaraeba
Mata konogoro ya
Shinobaremu
Ushi to mishi yo zo
Ima wa koishiki.
THE MINISTER KIYO-SUKE FUJIWARA
Time was when I despised my youth,
As boyhood only can;
What would I give for boyhood now,
When finishing life’s span
An old decrepid man!
Kiyo-suke was the son of the writer of verse No. 79, and lived in the latter part of the twelfth century.