the coughing won't stop — no hand to pat my back
seki ga yamanai senaka o tataku te ga nai
1938–1939 · Yuda · Fūraikyo hut
Sōmokutō · Cold and Alone (Kokan)
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However hard he coughs, there is no hand to rub his back. Illness in a solitary life stings hardest at moments like this. Stating only the fact and never lapsing into complaint, it is one of the poems that best represents Santōka's solitude.