Where Have You Wandered?
The 18th-century Japanese poet Fukuda Chiyo-ni wrote a haiku born from the death of her young son:
My dragonfly catcher,
How far have you wandered—
Have you gone?
Its simplicity conceals an immense sorrow. She does not speak of death as though it were the expected end of life's journey. Instead, she asks a question. Where has he gone? Has he merely wandered beyond her sight? Her words refuse to accept that the child she loved has simply ceased to be. Love itself protests against such a conclusion.
There are moments in life when grief carries us into a country where language begins to fail. The death of someone we love, especially a child, tears at the very fabric of our understanding. We may hear people say that death is simply part of nature, but the human heart often resists that verdict. We instinctively feel that something precious has been interrupted, that life was meant for more than this.
Chiyo-ni later became a Buddhist nun. Perhaps it was an attempt to find peace, perhaps a search for answers that grief had awakened. We cannot know. But her little poem continues to speak across the centuries because it captures a universal truth: we do not easily make peace with death. We question it. We grieve it. We long for reunion.
The Bible explains why death feels like an intruder rather than a friend. It tells us that death was never God's original purpose for humanity. It entered the world through sin, and because of that every human heart bears an instinctive sense that something is profoundly wrong. Yet Scripture does not leave us there. It answers our deepest question with a greater hope:
"For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man."
1 Corinthians 15:21 (BSB)
The Christian faith does not ask us to pretend death is natural or harmless. It acknowledges it as an enemy, but not the final one. Christ entered our world, conquered death through His resurrection, and promised that those who belong to Him will one day share in that victory. Chiyo-ni asked, "Have you gone?" The gospel answers that, because of Christ, death does not have the last word.