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Death Tanka Poems

These Death Tanka poems are examples of Tanka poems about Death. These are the best examples of Tanka Death poems written by international poets.

better way to live


busy folk walking
its in hospital I lie
I hear staff talking
softly accommodating
spend my last moments waiting

give a man my heart
when his own stops and wont start
better

Categories: death, life,

Tanka Triptych

though Mom's memory
is slow she smiles at photo
taken many years 
ago when life was simple
with no confusion chaos 

Mom's hospice nurses
are thorough even small things
are

Categories: death, life,

OF FOOD AND WARRING: A TANKA QUINTET

OF FOOD AND WARRING
(A TANKA QUIENTET)

Juxtaposed bombs fall…
Food’s down, starvation rising…
Death…collateral…
Thus, war’s new reaping of death:
Food uprooted and destroyed:-

Food’s an enemy,
Seeking to eat, deadly:
Starvation killing:-
Thus,

Categories: corruption, death, extended metaphor,

Pass Away - Haiku - Tanka


The dead that now know
God's move in ~predestined~ wind
Sift through the free grass.

You must be longer
in there than I am this staid.
Above you, to leave
Where

Categories: tanka, dark, death, god, grave,

He, so helpless on death

He, so fond of dress--
What not and what must he wear,
Alas failed to stress
Till last but one breath of air
That his shroud was far from

Categories: death, irony,

Of A Confused Nightmare Dream

Of A Confused Nightmare Dream
(A Thought Provoking Tanka Trio)

Is sleeping dreamless,
Short-lived life’s resurrection,
Or death’s fantasy?
Can living fake its own death
In confusing nightmare dreams?

I thought I

Categories: confusion, death, dream, hyperbole,

THE ABSURDITY OF WARRING FOR PEACE

Evilly absurd,
Bombing lives doesn’t win peace;
Just wishful power:-
War and peace are antonyms.
You can’t make them synonyms:-

War can not bring peace,
Just collateral damage,
And high death rates:-
Peace

Categories: allegory, death, life, love,

G

Never invited
Lost in the bottle from you
I didn't cause this
You told lies to my landlord
The neighbors warned me of you

Categories: addiction, bullying, death, loss,

Her Voice Resonates

Her voice resonates
Strongly in my delighted ear;
My soul smiles -
As if she'd not died years ago
And been shut away in a wall ...

Categories: death, in memoriam, voice,

Etched on Stone

     Geologist George 
     chose inscription to be etched 
     on stone of

Categories: fun,

Scratched

making marriage vows
           forever they declared

Categories: love,

All Talk

Hawaii fireworks
still deadly and maim for life
like annual debates
Hawaiian language council 
argues o'er Kona coffee

Categories: conflict, death, fate, grief,

Mental Prism

Escaped leave parts way
sensed brittle cell bathes
feign light darkens hope
bottled self awashed
price of freedom death

Categories: anxiety, conflict, death, extended

Eihei Dogen Kigen translations by Michael R Burch

This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane’s bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen translation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last?
—Eihei Dogen Kigen translation of his jisei (death

Categories: flower, moon, nature, spring,

Tanka

I stare at the sky
all day long, wondering if
I'll last or be 
gone, the ocean tides rise till neck
can't tell apart life and death

Categories: 9th grade, anxiety, confusion,