Learning A New Language Pt 1 Poem by Gabrielle Ciarann Roniyah Baer

Learning a new language is walking a new path,
you’ll wear the same shoes, carry the same gear
look up at the same sky,
greet the same sun, or moon or
stars on their rise.
But they’ll all have new names,
in words you won’t recognize,
shaped by new forms,
built with new sounds,
learned only slowly, often stopping,
following strange symbols.

Why trouble?
you’ll ask yourself sometime
Why struggle?
Wasn’t one complex idiom
enough to do daily battle with?
Wasn’t one kind of music
plenty to sing?

The soul cries ‘Yes!
Have a care, look out behind you,
lest you forget your mother tongue! ’
The heart cries ‘No!
Stop worrying, lest you
waste your mortal curiosity! ’

Life cries ‘Move on!
Don’t miss a moment, don’t miss a step,
don’t miss a single chance,
lest you miss a wonder! ’
While Love cries ‘Hurry!
Over the next hill,
there’s great treasure,
called beauty, called wisdom,
called magick, called dreams,
depending on the language
you choose to speak.


(written in 1999)