language

deGrasse-Tyson likely isn't Jewish;
i learned this from an interview.
he states there is no inherent
alphabetical order; he calls it
arbitrary.

a man roars at a mother of three,
"We're not in your country; speak English!"
i turn and am bewildered, confused;
the man's skin is the shade of my own,
brown.

the woman glares at me, narrowing her
once-soft, shimmering, sepia eyes;
she hisses at me, a disyllabic paralytic
erupting through her gritted teeth:
contempt.

i offer an amendment to their claim
that this one is a bumbling amalgamate;
my refutation is against its innocence.
i proclaim that the difficulty was
designed.

how is it that a country so massive,
so diverse in its composition,
comprised of millions of people,
could ever declare knowing one language
enough?