Words

How am I to guess

what your words mean

under their outermost layers

what euphemisms you like to employ

or how you fold your remarks

using the origami of deceit

so that I can’t grasp the tricks 

of your speech 

for myself 

I am sitting by the computer 

and laughing at my own 

bilingual jokes, nestled in poetry

and incomprehensible without

the key of two languages

and the key to my thoughts 

so I think I am laughing alone

but that doesn’t lessen my pleasure 

at the cleverness of it

maybe we will understand each other

without words, maybe a wink 

at the right moment is enough 

to pass the meaning to 

the tricksters at the table 

those who will not be offended 

so they can slyly raise a glass

to salute 

our clever tongues.