Sweet Accent
I like the sweet accent
Heard on the stairs this morning:
Persian with a hint of American.
Years ago in Iran
I saw this American accent
As a sign of losing self.
But now with every rise and fall
It touches my heart
Because my son speaks Persian
With this accent
And I still have his alphabet cards
In the drawer of my desk.
Every morning on our way to preschool
We read them on the bus
And he learned the Persian alphabet
Before learning the English.
Majid Naficy
August 9, 2018
لهجه‌ی شیرین
دوست دارم این لهجه‌ی شیرین را
که امروز صبح سرِ پله‌ها شنیدم:
فارسی با ته‌لهجه‌ی آمریکایی.
سالها پیش در ایران
آن را نشانِ از‌خود‌باختگی می‌دیدم
اما اکنون هر فراز و فرودش
به‌دلم می‌نشیند
زیرا پسرم فارسی را
به این لهجه حرف می‌زند
و من هنوز کارتهای الفبایش را
در کشوی میزم دارم.
هر صبح سرِ راهِ مهد کودک
آنها را در اتوبوس می‌خواندیم
و او الفبای فارسی را
پیش از انگلیسی یاد‌گرفت.
مجید نفیسی
نهم اوت دوهزار‌و‌هژده
from Snežana:
I was born in ex Jugoslavia, now Serbia, as a Slovak girl. The only language that I knew up to my forth birthday was Slovak, my mother tongue. Now, I speak and write Serbian well, English here and there, and my knowledge of Slovak is unfortunately far from the one that people of Slovakia use. I don`t know to write in it for what I am sorry.
Therefore, I like your poem, and guess day by day more and more people will be touched by it and understand it deeply enough thankfull to their own experiances as there are migrants all over the world. Your poem is about asimilation and ancesters, new and old with the hint of understanding and forgiving. Well done! Nice and sweet.
from Soraya:
"Really touching and with few words as always you said so much between the lines. I like the photo too."
from Naomi Shihab Nye:
"I still have his alphabet cards/in the drawer of my desk."
Beautiful!