You will never see the peculiarities
of your own language
or really appreciate its beauty
until you learn another one.
Only after emigrating,
while delving into the intricacies of English,
did I notice that in my mother tongue
there is a construction that is contrary
to the principles of logic.
The negative concord was quite a surprise,
and once I saw it, I was baffled at
how something so obvious
had escaped my notice
for almost three decades.
On the other hand, if I think of diminutives,
English is not even remotely close
to what one can achieve in Polish.
And if the doldrums struck,
in my native language, you could say I’m bored
but also express that in a more active,
if untranslatable, form.
hidden pilcrow 