Born a Crime

common your tongue, the less
likely you are to learn others. The
more fringe, the more likely you are
to pick up two or three. In the cities
most people speak at least some
English and usually a bit of
Afrikaans, enough to get around.
You’ll be at a party with a dozen
people where bits of conversation
are flying by in two or three
different languages. You’ll miss
part of it, someone might translate
on the fly to give you the gist, you
pick up the rest from the context,
and you just figure it out. The crazy
thing is that, somehow, it works.
Society functions. Except when it
doesn’t.