The Melody Of My English

My English is fluent.
My accent stays.
You do not have to point it out –
Believe me, I hear it every day.

I have lived in this country
for more than thirty years.
Few people have been insensitive enough
to do this to me.

If you like me, make an effort.
Let your ear grow familiar
with the melody of my English,
the way my words arrive.

When you point it out in public,
I feel like a child learning how to walk:
every step watched,
every stumble announced.

I feel ridiculed,
and what I meant to say
gets lost
in how I said it.

Before you announce my accent
to a room full of people,
take up this challenge:
learn another language.
Not a handful of phrases.
Not enough to order a meal.
Learn it until you can dream in it,
build a life in it,
say exactly what you mean in it.

Speak it fluently –
and still carry the melody
of where you began.
Then tell me what needs correcting:
the voice that learned another language,
or the ear that will not learn to listen.

I am not asking you
to change my voice.
I am asking you to listen
until its music is familiar, too.