Saritomo to omou mono kara hi o hete wa shidai shidai ni yowaru kanashisa

さりともと思ふものから日を経ては
次第次第に弱る悲しさ

Roma-ji: Saritomo to omou mono kara hi o hete wa shidai shidai ni yowaru kanashisa
English Translation: "All the same," I think,
"I am still quite well," and yet
as the days go by,
little by little, step by step,
the sorrow of growing weak.
Meaning: I tell myself that I am still all right, yet as the days go by, how sad it is to grow weaker little by little.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 683

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "At a place called Tsuchiya in Sagami there was a decrepit monk past ninety who came to me of his own accord; while telling tales of old, he wept as he told me he could no longer stand or sit, and then left. At that time I had my people compose on the theme of old age, and I too composed"
Though one tells oneself one is still all right, the body weakens little by little as days pass, and the poem voices that sorrow. The colloquial "little by little" conveys the progress of age with real feeling. It closes the series in the old monk's voice.
The Ruijū text and the text transmitted by Teika spell line 5 differently. Part of line 5 is hard to read in the source as displayed and is here read yowaru kanashisa.

Line 1 means "even so, I'm well."
Line 2 means "though I think," mono kara adversative.
Line 3 means "as the days pass."
Line 4 means "little by little," repeating the word to show age advancing.
Line 5 means "the sorrow of weakening," ending on a noun; from the visible form of age in the preceding poem it moves to the daily awareness of decline, closing the series.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Michi tōshi koshi wa futae ni kagamareri tsue ni sugarite koko made mo kuru
Next Poem: Yo ni fureba uki koto no ha no kazu goto ni taezu namida no tsuyu zo okikeru