1 | 1
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2 | A dialogue on poverty
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3 | 2
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4 |
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5 | 3
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6 | On the night when the rain beats,
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7 | 4
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8 | Driven by the wind,
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9 | 5
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10 | On the night when the snowflakes mingle
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11 | 6
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12 | With a sleety rain,
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13 | 7
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14 | I feel so helplessly cold.
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15 | 8
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16 | I nibble at a lump of salt,
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17 | 9
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18 | Sip the hot, oft-diluted dregs of _sake_;
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19 | 10
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20 | And coughing, snuffling,
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21 | 11
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22 | And stroking my scanty beard,
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23 | 12
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24 | I say in my pride,
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25 | 13
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26 | "There's none worthy, save I!"
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27 | 14
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28 | But I shiver still with cold.
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29 | 15
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30 | I pull up my hempen bedclothes,
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31 | 16
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32 | Wear what few sleeveless clothes I have,
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33 | 17
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34 | But cold and bitter is the night!
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35 | 18
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36 | As for those poorer than myself,
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37 | 19
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38 | Their parents must be cold and hungry,
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39 | 20
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40 | Their wives and children beg and cry.
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41 | 21
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42 | Then, how do you struggle through life?
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43 | 22
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44 |
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45 | 23
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46 | Wide as they call the heaven and earth,
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47 | 24
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48 | For me they have shrunk quite small;
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49 | 25
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50 | Bright though they call the sun and moon,
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51 | 26
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52 | They never shine for me.
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53 | 27
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54 | Is it the same with all men,
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55 | 28
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56 | Or for me alone?
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57 | 29
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58 | By rare chance I was born a man
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59 | 30
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60 | And no meaner than my fellows,
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61 | 31
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62 | But, wearing unwadded sleeveless clothes
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63 | 32
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64 | In tatters, like weeds waving in the sea,
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65 | 33
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66 | Hanging from my shoulders,
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67 | 34
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68 | And under the sunken roof,
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69 | 35
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70 | Within the leaning walls,
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71 | 36
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72 | Here I lie on straw
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73 | 37
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74 | Spread on bare earth,
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75 | 38
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76 | With my parents at my pillow,
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77 | 39
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78 | And my wife and children at my feet,
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79 | 40
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80 | All huddled in grief and tears.
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81 | 41
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82 | No fire sends up smoke
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83 | 42
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84 | At the cooking-place,
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85 | 43
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86 | And in the cauldron
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87 | 44
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88 | A spider spins its web.
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89 | 45
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90 | With not a grain to cook,
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91 | 46
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92 | We moan like the night thrush.
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93 | 47
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94 | Then, "to cut," as the saying is,
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95 | 48
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96 | "The ends of what is already too short,"
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97 | 49
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98 | The village headman comes,
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99 | 50
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100 | With rod in hand, to our sleeping place,
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101 | 51
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102 | Growling for his dues.
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103 | 52
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104 | Must it be so hopeless --
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105 | 53
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106 | The way of this world?
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107 | 54
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108 |
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109 | 55
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110 | -- Yamanoue Okura
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