Even a life-long prosperity is but one cup of sake;
A life of forty-nine years is passed in a dream;
I know not what life is, nor death.
Year in year out-all but a dream.
Both Heaven and Hell are left behind;
I stand in the moonlit dawn,
Free from clouds of attachment.
Uesugi Kenshin
1530-1578
Source
This poem comes from the Samurai Archives.
More Japanese Death Poems
Interested in Japanese death poems? Check out Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death.
