EPIGRAM
Amaz-ed was this Portuguese
In their third year of infancy to see
All children in the French countree
Could speak in French with ease:
The Devil’s own doing, if you please,
It is, said he, twirling his ‘tash;
To acquire of this vile tongue a dash
A native son in Portugal will
Struggle a lifetime, still speak it ill,
Yet here kids speak it with panache.
Nicolás Fernández de Moratín
Translator: Peter Dean