Note: This poet is also an author. He wrote a huge book Yoake Mae or Before the Dawn which is one of THE books to read if you want to know what Japan was like around the time of Perry's black ships.I know one former professor used chapters from it for his history class since a better accounting of certain events is not otherwise readily available in English.

From a far-off island whose name I do not know A coconut is swept in.

Separated from your native shore How many months have you been on the waves?

Is the old tree still alive, still flourishing? Are its branches still shady?

I pillow my head against by the sea, A lone, floating wanderer.

I take the coconut and hold it to my heart: The grief of the wanderer is renewed.

Tears welling up in a strange land, I watch the sun set in the sea.