Zen Death Haiku Viii
ZEN DEATH HAIKU VIII
These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku.
Had I not known
I was already dead
I might have mourned
my own passing.
—Ota Dokan, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Both victor and vanquished are dewdrops:
flashes of light
briefly illuminating the void.
—Ôuchi Yoaka, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Even a life of long prosperity is like a single cup of sake;
my life of forty-nine years flashed by like a dream.
Nor do I know what life is, nor death.
All the years combined were but a fleeting dream.
Now I step beyond both Heaven and Hell
To stand alone in the moonlit dawn,
Free from the mists of attachment.
—Uesugi Kenshin, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
My life appeared like dew
and disappears like dew.
All Naniwa was a series of dreams.
—Toyotomi Hideyoshi, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Felt deeply in my heart:
How beautiful the snow,
Clouds gathering in the west.
—Issho, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
that you were my life!
—Shoshun, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Inhale, exhale.
Forward, reverse.
Live, die.
Let arrows fly, meet midway and sever the void in aimless flight:
Thus I return to the Source.
—Gesshu Soko, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
My body?
Pointless
as the tree's last persimmon.
—Seisa, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Farewell! I pass
as all things do:
dew drying on grass.
—Banzan, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last?
—Kigen, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
A tempestuous sea...
Flung from the deck —
this block of ice.
—Choha (-1740) , loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Empty cicada shell:
we return as we came,
naked.
—Fukaku (-1753) , loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch
Keywords/Tags: Haiku, Zen, Japan, Japanese, translation, life, death, aging, time, pain, sorrow, lament, age, analogy, angst, animal, anxiety, autumn
Copyright © Michael Burch | Year Posted 2023
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