To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (4) —The Forth of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To an orphan man winter comes faster He only hears about his father and mother Yet he can’t escape paying taxes and laboring Scanty clothes are too thin for winter Poor food can hardly support a day Every time he suffers from winds and frosts He thinks of his parents at night endlessly