every poem a death…

From old times it has been customary to leave behind a death poem, and perhaps I should do the same. But every moment of life is the last, every poem a death poem! Why then at this time should I write one? In these my last hours I have no poem.

Bashō (1644-1694) , The Way of Silence: The Prose and Poetry of Basho, Dial Press, 1970, p.111

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