Poetry

In portuguese,

if you want to leave a meeting,

      you don’t sair,

              you fugir,

meaning        

              to escape.

Adeptly used in the phrase,

“She escaped the curriuculum meeting.” 

There’s no confusion between Can I and May I

because there is

              Estou a pedir

meaning                 
             I am asking for

which results in

never asking for

but really

              I am informing you that I am asking for.

       Luck is sorte

and 

      sorte is child

so, naturally

in Mozambique,

a child is lucky

a child  of emakua,

                             skimokondi,

                                           chitswa,

                                                       shangaan,*

 lucky to speak the Língua Materna

that’s the

                               Mother Tongue

because

Language isn’t just the words you speak

                                                  or think.

It’s what Raises you. 

* 4 of the 43 local languages spoken in Mozambique