A devil may endure but just being a man
In his labors long and cruel
His body was merely a slender blade of grass
Since the time his lungs had become diseased
He became a wood thrush who coughs blood and dies
Wandering here and there
Now, how sad it is that he has nowhere to live
In a frenzy he spits blood
He was watching the water flow
Under the rails of the Ryogoku bridge
And was a companion to the night gulls
He sank into the water, how tragic
Near the edge of the reeds at Etchujima
His corpse floated up the next morning
Ah even to hear it is bitter, this
The end of a working man.