After breakfast we go for a walk through the vineyards
and meadows. Granny and I chat in Italian;
with Maya I speak English. Polina answers back
in Russian and Ukrainian.
At home, Arseniy shows me first his English glossary
and then we slowly read and pronounce the words
together; also from the French dictionary,
so that he won’t forget them.
La fête*!
he exclaims and leaps from his chair.
He remembers the meaning, which awakens something
in him as he looks at me. He explains it to me.
Granny insists he replies in Ukrainian, not Russian.
*Celebration