Red Crabs Poem by MOLOY BHATTACHARYA

In the open beach
Wide and sandy
Scented and windy
They appeared
In huge numbers
Like countless drops of blood
Like tameless water in flood
On the mouth of beady holes,
Partly visible and partly hidden
Their crimson bodies,
Waiting cautiously to see
A thud on the sand,
Every footfall, each approaching leg
And scampered deep in the ground.
I tried a few times
To catch them alive,
Pipped me their speed
‘Utterly a foolish deed’,
Quipped my friend
And my flagging energy did bend.