> An old silent pond...
> A frog jumps into the pond—
> Splash! Silence again.
While this haiku doesn't explicitly mention death, it *does* explore themes of impermanence and the fleeting nature of life. Here's how:
* The "Silent Pond" and "Silence Again": The pond symbolizes stillness and tranquility, often associated with the afterlife. The repeated "silence" emphasizes the quiet emptiness that follows life.
* The Frog's Jump: This single, sudden act of life disrupts the peaceful silence, a metaphor for the brief, yet impactful presence of life itself. The "splash" is both the sound of the frog's entry and the echo of the impact of life on the world.
* The "Splash" and the Return to Silence: This highlights the immediate return to stillness after the interruption. It suggests the inevitable end of all life, leaving behind only the quiet of the pond.
The haiku, through its imagery, evokes a sense of quiet contemplation on the transient nature of life and the eventual return to a state of quietude. It isn't a poem *about* death in the literal sense, but rather a meditation on the cycle of life and the inevitable end.
It's worth noting that there are also other haiku by Matsuo Bashō that deal more directly with themes of death and mortality.