Growing up

It was foreign tongues and foreign food.

It was friendship and bonding

Even when English wasn't common.

When words could easily be disregarded by actions.

When my friends couldn't even pronounce my name.

I learned for them

Jambo

Salve

Hola

Hallo

Alphabets I couldn't read

Words I couldn't speak

Properly or without my thick tongue.

Watching the suns behind their faces when I learned their words

Made all the difference in me.

Shaped all that is me.

And what I want to be.

In the future I will

Translate

Aid

Teach

Preserve.

I will master the languages of those 

Whose English is faulty

or non-existant.

I will preservethe languages

of those who never had the opportunity to learn their heritage.

I will teach others

to translate

to aid

to preserve.

I will be

A

C

O

L

L

E

G

E

P

R

O

F

E

S

S

O

R

of Linguistics.