gramática

I sought to express---in the service of God---
that though young and unpracticed my hand
I’ve planted my feet in the solidest sod
that I trust in, believe, understand.

it’s been 16 months since I’ve come north from down
still the words bounce around in my head
so I slip in the building that overlooks town
with the tongue of kin living and dead

I step in the room and I speak, and I'm heard
the desks forming a softly curved “v”
and on tiptoe I teach them the Portuguese Word
“Irmã Duncan, como se diz ‘Z’?”

“como ‘Ze,’ e é ‘Ah,’” I reply, “não é ‘A’”
e soletro the evening away

(borrows the end-rhyme words of “A Primer of the Daily Round” by Howard Nemerov)