At the Upaya #haiku workship, Jane Hirshfield now talks about how in some Buddhist temples there is a tradition of writing a death poem once a year. She regales us with some poems from
the book “Japanse Death Poems”
I saw the moon as well
And now, world,
Truly yours
(Chiyo-ni)
the book “Japanse Death Poems”
I saw the moon as well
And now, world,
Truly yours
(Chiyo-ni)
Comments
Between one tub
And another
Stuff and nonsense
[The tub where babies are bathed, then corpses]
(Issa)
Seventy-one
How did a dewdrop
Last
(Kigen)
One moon
One me
Snow-covered field path
(Shofu)
My shame in this world
will soon be forgotten –
springtime journey
(Shokei)