Bilingualism

She kisses me

In English,

But we fuck

In Italian,

Her pecks
Are something

I can understand,

Without translation,

Something natural
And inherent,

Her tongue
I can comprehend,
When it moves
Slowly along my lip
Like a drawn out word.

But her trembling skin

Is something

For which I haven’t yet

Found phrasing,

As I hear

My own name

Sprinkled

Between her

Romance

Language lips,

I’m trying to

Decipher

The true meaning-

That which transcends

Vocabulary

Application,

There is the schooled
Second language,
Precise and limited,
And then there is
The Italian she knows,
Adapted from
Experience,
Which gives her nerve
To say what she means
Without trepidation.

Come posso dirle
Che sto innamorando,
Senza parole,
Senza parole,

I’m forever trying

To decipher

The meaning of a phrase,

The way in which one

Thing relates to

Another.