France

By Carol J. Douglas

My family boarded a large plane and flew across the ocean.
We looked below and watched the waves lap in a frothy motion.

I clutched my mother’s hand at such an awesome sight.
She patted me and said, "Don’t worry, it’s all right."

The airplane flew us all to France and into a new land.
Soon we were in our new home to live there as we planned.

The house was big and grand; the yard was filled with stones.
"But there’s no grass to play in," my siblings and I moaned.

"Well you can dig for treasures in this front yard," dad said.
And there beneath the pearly stones we found seashells instead!

Our neighbor was Madame Seru living in the house next door.
The first thing that she said to us was the word, "Bonjour."

"Bonjour," my parents answered and we learned it means "hello."
And as we stayed there longer more French words did we know.

"Le marche" is where we shopped instead of at "the store."
"Les chatons" were the kittens that played around our door.

The market sold "la baguette" which is a long French bread.
We learned that "le chapeaux" is the hat upon our head.

When we had to say goodbye, we learned to say "au revoir."
We sang songs like "Frere Jacques" instead of "la, la, la."

We learned to count "un, deux, trois," instead of "one two three."
In spring we picked "les cerise" off a little cherry tree.

We lived in France for three years then came back to USA.
But how we miss the fun of speaking French in our own way!