Ask of Me
I could have asked
so many things
like what was it like
leaving old friends
and an old land
then learning a new language
and even starting a business
and of her my mother
so many questions
I never got around to ask
of her either
and now I wait
for it is my turn
with children
for though from the same country
we don’t always speak,
so to speak,
the same language
A brief autobigraphical statement by Shubin:
I start off by saying I could have asked of my father what it was like leaving old friends and an old land and even starting a new business (here), all of which my father did when leaving the Ukraine (as a young man). And there were many questions I could have asked of my mother, too, who too had come from the Ukraine, and met my father here for the first time. But I found out as a young man that age more than anything else separated.the old from the young. Yes. we don’t always speak the same language.
