A toenail coming
off – what an apt metaphor
for this passing life

My right side doing
all the work – time now to turn
onto my left

©Copyright Brendan E Byrne 2022. All rights reserved.

*Jisei are the Japanese version of the “death poem” that is a common cultural expression within many East Asian societies, especially China, Korea and Japan. These two poems were inspired by having recently read a collection of Japanese Jisei.