Lost in Translation

The words I once spoke, soft like secrets,

now slip through my fingers,

sand eroding in the palm of my hand—

i tried to order coffee today, a struggle,

yet still the syllables unraveled like a strand.

My tongue tangled in familiar sounds,

my heart beats out a rhythm I can’t catch,

and the barista’s smile turns to confusion,

a mirror reflecting my speech’s mismatch.

I hold an old textbook, pages yellowed,

markings of a time when I understood,

but now the phrases feel foreign,

like I’m losing pieces of what once was good.