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Jim McCrory

On the death of a child

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Edited by Jim McCrory, Thursday, 4 July 2024, 20:29

Image by https://unsplash.com/@ak24004



The 18th century Japanese poet, Fukuda Chiyo-ni wrote the following haiku

My Dragonfly catcher,

How far have you wandered

Have you gone

From time to time, some humans are placed in a dark place. The loss of a loved one, especially a child, can be unimaginably painful. I just cannot conceive how dark that place must be. The poet who wrote the haiku  became a nun. Perhaps in search for some meaning. Death is so unnatural; we cannot get our heads around it. We spend the rest of our lives wondering, hoping, seeking, and praying.

The Japanese concept of natural decay (wabi-sabi) and the transience of nature presents its paradoxes. When reading Kobayaashi Issa’s haiku, one feels his existential angst at the loss of his daughter.

This world of dew

is a world of dew,

and yet, and yet.


The line, “and yet, and yet” gives the idea of wabi-sabi not holding up to his instinct. He desires to see his daughter one day. It's my hope they will.

"Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God, and those who hear will live "            John 5:25 (BSB).

 






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