They cut out my mother’s tongue
the words she knew to sing a lullaby
lost in the scar tissue of the new language
forced into her mouth at an early age
English, they said was the key
to the new world.
New to the intruders of course
but not to her family
where she learned her mother’s tongue
listened to a different song
filling her heart with a melodious sound.
Again a revolution is occurring
singular authority, not gun powder
but economic power
and with it another language
Our children and grandchildren
will have to learn it to make their way
befriending an enemy
by assimilating
speaking words unrecognizable
from their birth, their mother’s tongue
dissected and removed
and in the scar tissue
strangled words.
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