旅客来りて嘆いて曰く、
Once there was a traveler who spoke these words in sorrow tohis host:
近年より近日に至るまで天変地夭・飢饉疫癘・遍く天下に満ち、広く地上に迸る、
Inrecent years, there have been unusual disturbances in the heavens, strangeoccurrences on earth, famine and pestilence, all affecting every corner of theempire and spreading throughout the land.
牛馬巷に斃れ、骸骨路に充てり、
Oxen and horses lie dead in the streets, andthe bones of the stricken crowd the highways.
死を招くの輩既に大半に超え、悲まざるの族敢て一人も無し。
Overhalf the population has already been carried off by death, and there is hardlya single person who does not grieve.