Publisher's Synopsis
It is a tradition among the haiku poets of Japan, as life approaches its conclusion, to write poems expressing their views or feelings about death. These are known as "death songs." This book is a collection of haiku death songs and other poems, ancient and modern, that speak of the death experience. The collection began as an effort to answer questions posed by a teenage friend as he approached the end of a lifelong struggle with leukemia. Not comfortable that I could offer clear answers to these questions, I began to seek haiku death songs and other short examples of Buddhist poetry that might provide insight. The collection has since grown into this book that can now be shared with others. It includes selections by contemporary western Buddhists such as Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Richard Bach and Timothy Leary. the book has been shared with the hundreds of critical and terminal cancer patients i cared for over 21 years as a front line caregiver. it has been well received and has brought comfort and understanding. This book is provocative, insightful, reassuring; not at all morbid or grim. It even brings some welcome levity in places. It is great reading for those dealing with mortality issues.
