Admiring Accents

You open your mouth

And I stare

Your tongue twists and turns

Making a melody out of your words

Your native language

And the one you learned as an adult

Blend together so beautifully on your lips

I smile at the sound

And you begin to blush

You think you’ve misspoken,

Misused,

Made a mistake.

You ask where you went wrong

How to improve

And I laugh again at how different our point of views.

I am smiling at the miracle of communication

And human connection

I am admiring the perseverance

And intelligence

It takes to retrain your mouth

And your brain

To make room for more words and rules

You think I’m teasing,

Correcting.

You speak my language

But how do I make you understand?