12 deaths NewPhilosopher

12 deaths

1768

HakuinEkaku

Kiba

1868

MatsuoBasho

1694 Choha

1740

KozanIchikyo

1360

Prince Otsu

686

Empty-handed I entered the world

Barefoot I leave it.

My coming, my going —

Two simple happenings

That got entangled.

This is the last day
I shall see the mallards
crying over Lake Iware.
Then I shall disappear
into the clouds.

My old body:

a drop of dew grown

heavy at the leaf tip.

Falling ill on a journey

my dreams go wandering

over withered fields.

Oh young folk —

if you fear death,

die now!

Having died once

you won’t die again.

A raging sea

thrown from the deck —

a block of ice.