"So you only speak English?" - Theresa Bullock

“So you only speak English?”  –by Theresa Bullock

So you only speak English?

Pourquoi? They ask me, of course I’m in France

My cheeks blush as I

Make some excuse about

Not reading enough books or not going on enough trips

Rolling off the basics

Seems to keep them off my back for now

Ah! Bien!

So you only speak English?

The Dutch seem more forgiving

Until they learn I have lived here for

Years rather than weeks.

But their look of disappointment

urges me on

Maar ik spreekt een beetje .

The truth is very different

I love how musical bore-da

Sounds in the morning on a camping trip to Wales

How kurwa sounds so soft

It cannot possibly mean my Polish friends are insulting each other

I watch movies with different subtitles so I know

Ezel, burro, åsna, baudet.

But I cannot string two words together.

In England that’s good going

But here, being able to order

Frikandel met frites

Just doesn’t seem to cut it.

It’s easier for me to say

Tak, I only speak English.