Since I now recall fondly
the painful days of the past,
if I live long, I may look back
on these harsh days, too,
and find them sweet and good.

–Fujiwara no Kiyosuke

From One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse, translated with an introduction and commentary by Peter MacMillan © 2018. Reprinted with permission of Penguin Random House (penguinrandomhouse.com).

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