The Immigrant's Song

A child in time begins to see a world
lies beyond his parents dim perceptions.
He goes in search of what this foreign land

might keep from similar misconceptions.

He learns to speak through a stranger's lilt
an other's tongue, how vowels audition
the heart outside recognition, to tilt
himself in the general direction

of the new found shore's prevailing winds.
Until, with luck, sensibilities align,

a rustic hearth kindles the love that binds

a wanderer's lust to a native's design.

Love, desire, are curiosity's truest
cousins: how misplaced nouns will conjugate.

Ken e Bujold

©2022

Reviews

[W. Barrett Munn]

A few years back we went to Lisbon. At a wine-tasting, we met two girls, both from eastern Europe, who had moved to Portugal because of better job prospects. I can't fathom doing this-the language is one of the more difficult to learn, I think, yet these tow had moved without knowing the language and learned on the fly. I gained a whole new perspective from that trip.
Winston

[Ken e Bujold]

yes acquiring another language after childhood is one of the most difficult tasks we humans set for ourselves. My verbal french sucks, even though I have family members who are french. Written french I am more often than not capable of reading and getting a passing grade. My Mandarin and Cantonese are dreadful, even though I am married to one. Thankfully, with the exception of my mother in law, all my inlaws are english speaking as it is the language of gov't and business in Singapore