Hermit Crab Poem by KunJung Hsiao

I visit the ocean near my hometown several decades after.
It recalls my childhood before going to the city I live in.
Something has changed, something still remains here.

I walk through the sand beach that endless to the child who dug the sandy hole to find a hermit crab with his friend.
I can't find a hermit crab anymore.
That child loses his hermit crab after he becomes an adult.

The blue ocean roars to the stranger
'where is your hermit crab? where is your childhood? '.
No answer.
It's a wide beach but rare people here.
And then I see a fisher.

A stranger with gray hair waves to me.
he comes near to me：' Had we met before? '
I watch his mouth and eyes in many wrinkles.
Some familiar sparks in his eyes.

On a windy summer morning, I meet my old friend.
It's a long road after our last encounter.
He is still the one I know, but I'm not.
He is poor and happy, but I'm not.

I'll visit him often to find out the hermit crab I lost.