with death before me a cool wind
shi o mae ni suzushii kaze
1936–1937 · At Gochū-an hermitage
Sōmokutō · A Landscape of Weeds (Zassō fūkei)
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A poem written in illness. To a body lying near enough to death to feel it, a cool wind comes blowing. Not fear, not lament — the coolness of the wind comes first. A single thread of pleasure sensed at the edge of life.