these days

time flies
quicker than anticipated
or desired
my thinning hair
mostly grey
like my beard
and that bottle
of Irish
does little
to ease regret
even less for remorse
life is
as they say
hard on elders
and wisdom
is in short supply
these days

Shijo 2270 by U T’ak

In one hand I grabbed a bramble,
in the other a stick:
the bramble to block the advance of age, the stick to stay approaching white hair.
White hair, though,
outwitted me: it took a shortcut here.

translated by Kevin O’Rourke

Old now, tangled by Wang An-shih

Old now, tangled  in human form, I’m done trusting wisdom.
Knowledge in ruins, I’ll follow farmland elders, live out my

hundred years like a child. What else could carry me clear
through, heal all these failures hacking and scarring my face?

translated by David Hinton