At the bottom of the ground a face emerging,
a lonely invalid's face emerging
In the dark at the bottom of the ground,
soft vernal grass stalks beginning to flare,
rats' nest beginning to flare,
and entangled with the nest,
innumerable hairs beginning to tremble,
time the winter solstice,
from the lonely sickly ground,
roots of thin blue bamboo beginning to grow,
beginning to grow,
and that, looking truly pathetic,
looking blurred,
looking truly, truly, pathetic

In the dark at the bottom of the ground,
a lonely invalid's face emerging.