Imitated from the Japanese

by W. B. Yeats

A most astonishing thing—

Seventy years have I lived;

(Hurrah for the flowers of Spring

For Spring is here again.)

Seventy years have I lived

No ragged beggar-man,

Seventy years have I lived,

Seventy years man and boy,

And never have I danced for joy.

From Last Poems and Two Plays, Dublin, Ireland: Cuala Press, 1939. This 1938 poem is based on Yone Noguchi’s translations of hokku by Issa, as follows (see http://www.botchanmedia.com/YN/articles/hobby.htm). Noguchi dedicated his 1920 book, Japanese Hokkus, to Yeats.

How strange it is

That I should have lived fifty years!

Hallelujah to flower's spring!

First day of spring at last!

Fifty years I've lived, . . .

Not a beggar in rush-clothes!

Alas, fifty years have passed,

Having no night

When I danced in joy.