To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (5) —The Fifth 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 herb gardeners winter comes faster They tell good seeds from bad seeds That is their taxes as laborers They know when to gather herbs Yet can’t cure themselves of their sick poverty If the herbs lack a blade or a root They can hardly stand lashes