The woman who has two languages


speaks through two mouths

sees through four eyes

feels two sensations with the stroke of one hand

hears the speech of her peoples

through many ears

and believes that her soul might also be divided.

But that woman has only one heart;

Though her senses may be broken apart,

she is still one woman, indivisible.

And still,

when she feels joy, it is two-fold.

When she feels pain,

she sometimes believes that it is more unbearable

than the pain of a woman of one language.

When she gives birth, it is through two wombs

and that singular child

is as two

formed by the duality of his mother.

* * *

55

When she rises, she rises twice.

When she falls, she falls with the weight of two women.

When she dreams,

she prefers to do away with language altogether,

so that she can rest with silent visions of her life,

without names

without nouns

without words.

When she recalls the dream upon waking

she fears that she will derive two separate meanings.

The woman who has two languages

believes in two gods,

one who walks by her side,

and another who looks down upon her

from such a great distance.

But these are the same god,

and she knows that her languages can be as much the same.

One to embrace and retreat inside of,

the other with which to grow and gain experience.

She may speak through two mouths,

but the sentiment is the same.

She thinks with one heart,

and within that heart

her mind struggles to come together.
EDM