The car bumps down the concrete path
Inside, an awkward silence wreaks it’s wrath
Language is a barrier between my grandparents and I;
I lick my lips, my mouth is dry.
My grandparents speak French, while I speak English
It’s amazing how strange their language is
A confusing babble of foreign sounds
But there is silence all around.
They speak to me; and I nod
Please let that be the right answer, I pray to God
They laugh and I laugh
They smile and I smile
But I do not understand why.
When I’m explaining something to them I want to die
My limited French is feels awkward and unnatural on my tongue
My grandparents cannot speak English, but we get along
Grandmother shows me how to cook a French dessert
I show her my favorite Doctor Who shirt
Grandfather fixes the squeak in my door
I come with him to the department store
And help him to translate the labels.
My language must to as confusing as his is to me
And so I try harder to see
If I can master this new challenge.
But I can’t.
The masculine’s and feminine’s confuse me
The pronunciations are strange
I can’t understand them when they talk too fast
I can’t wait to be free
I love them; but I can’t wait until they are gone
And I don’t have to fret anymore
Just a few more weeks, I think to myself
And now we are in the car
A silence ringing in our ears
As I look down into my lap
And grandmother stares into the back on grandfather’s head
There is nothing to be done, to be said
And I am silent.
I want to tell them about myself
I want them to know that I care
I want them to understand
But they can’t.