Bilingual

My father preferred them separated

For fear that words would strain our relationship

And get him out of my life

And everything about him

Such that he would never get back in again

He was persistent on me using Spanish alone

No English whatsoever

Especially not within his doors

But his efforts failed.

For how can you separate a child from their world?

Or their choice of language

I chose the dumb and stubborn way

And held my English lessons till late in bed

Until I was much better than he was

And could almost sing the words he stammered

But this did not separate us.

I prefer to think that though he was proud of me

And even the words that I wrote

He preferred to stay out of my verses

Fearing that inside those poems

There were all the words he loved

But didn’t want reminding.