My Tongue

You are a good writer
My lovable English teacher always praised,
I am good English writer.
My so enviable proud self always raised.
Then English Amplified path to success
Like old voyage I sailed with no transgress
In my world English personified intelligence
In English we debated, deliberated, delegated
Claimed custodian of culture & science
It had no other to be equated


Now I reflect, and it makes no sense
and neither do I feel sophisticated
Perhaps deceived with diligence
who to blame always be disputed
For my mother tongue, a thought in absence
My language, abated, castigated, relegated
By never ending ignorance, ever evolving violence
The beauty in my language was never elevated
buried with rich history, a forgotten oral brilliance
Its demotion to coffee shop chatters understated


No time left for patience
For long English I propagated
honored it in its presence
While my essence decimated
Not so long ago with arrogance
English said I was uncivilized and to be educated
Well, now I am educated, with confidence
Declare my colonized mind, officially liberated

Warsame Dirie
Copyright ©2009