My Father's Tongue (final)

Big ups to Kuya Bobby for helping me with the translations, I'm really bad at that. Most of the guesses I came up with were way off. Thank you so much for your help! I'm going to be performing this along with other members of JMU's Word is Born during the Vision Conference in Memorial Hall on Friday, April 5th. Be there!

My Father’s Tongue

At birth, God gave my father his tongue:
Muscle
With it came the freedom to laugh
Mag-tawa
to cry
mag-tangis

At home, my grandparents gave my father his tongue:
Rinconada, Bicol-Nabua
and with it the knowledge to speak truth
kamaturan
or tell lies
ambog

At school, the teachers gave my father his tongue:
Pilipino, Tagalog
and with it the skills to read
mag-basa
to write
mag-sulat

In college the professors gave my father his tongue:
English
with it a taste of America
a taste of the dream
pangaturugan

When martial law came, Marcos cut off my father's tongue:
Revolution, democracy
Because he wore jeans and rode a motorcycle
Rebelde
He spoke of freedom
Kalayaan

In America, my father silenced his own tongue:
Career, American dream
His silence brought odd jobs washing dishes and making decks.
Trabaho?
On minimum wage? Di, you mean slavery.
Pang-aalila

Now, here I stand
American born and raised
High school degree out of the way
college degree on the way
hell, maybe even a six pack on the way

It seems like I know everything

And yet,
I stand before you ashamed
ashamed of what I don't know:
My Father's Tongue.