1.
Death poems
are mere delusion -
death is death.
– Toko, 1795.

2.
Time to go…
they say the journey is a long one:
change of robes
– Roshu, 1899

3.
My morning porridge,
and then I’ll go to see
the willow blossom.
– Kusumaru, 1886

4.
Returning thanks
for life, I turn back and bow
eastward.
– Goshi, 1775

5.
I shift my pillow
closer to the
full moon.
– Saiba, 1858

Honourable mention:
In heavy snow
I clean forgot
to raise the nation’s flag.
– Kyutano (who became a radical anarchist), age 13, 1905

All translations from Hoffman, Yoel 1998, Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death