#161 Second Language

Often we go through life without even a care

So let's take a moment, to be self-aware

What I do, as I commune poetically

Is possible only because of my vocabulary

Since birth I've been building my bank of words

The meanings and subtleties I've since inferred

That my poetry is a sum of me currently

Simply because to me life was locally lucky

English is my own language, and dominant enough

I've never needed a second way to express stuff

My privilege, my fortune, and in a way, my curse

Is I've never had to learn another way to express verse

As a result, I can be quite nuanced and complex

In a manner of expression which can leave others vexed

'cause I've had a headstart, of my whole life I guess

So when the domain is English I can seem to impress

But now to acknowledge the expense of my lucky 'gift'

I am verbally sparse in every other language to exist

Yet others manage, with such grace and intellect

That their non-nativeness becomes natural to forget

And then

They apologise to me for lacking a little, sometimes

Because their short learning doesn't match my lifetime's

While I have zero expertise in where they come from

They feel so bad for being ever so slightly wrong

So this is a shout out, to those struggling in a second tongue

You are wise beyond years, I'm linguistically young

Never feel ashamed if you ever have to enquire or ask

These verbal tricks of mine are a single language mask

***

https://harryisapoet.blogspot.com/2016/02/second-language.html