Sabaydii everyone,

Sorry for the long silence and for not meeting my deadline for the mother 
tongue posting.  I could not settle on the right thesis for my essay.  All 
I really wanted to convey was that I have basically lost my mother tongue 
and now speak like a first grader (if that).  But I could not elaborate on 
that to make a nice essay.  Thus, to be terse, I hope the following haikus 
articulate my struggle well.  My pathetic attempt (a first-grade Lao 
speaker) of a translation follows each haiku when possible.  Could someone 
more adept attempt to translate these for me?

Hak Hpaang,

Adisack
-----------------------------


Mother Tongue Haikus
By Adisack Nhouyvanisvong

Like a six year-old
I struggle for the right words
in my native tongue.

Keua deknoy hork pii
Koy sork yaark lie ha kuam vow
nia pasa lao koy.

I only retain
the basics taught by mother
of the tongue she speaks.

I have forgotten			
the beauty and the timbre  
of my mother tongue.

Koy leum bhay muert lael
Thang guam lae thang sieng pasa
than thi mae koy vow.

Language of mother,
soft, calm, and deliberate,
is not what I speak.

Why is it painful
to construct the correct verse 
in my mother tongue?

I wish I could write
these dumb and stupid haikus
in my native tongue.

I have learned to see
that I only think and write
in my A, B, Cs.

Stupid as I am
I have yet to recognize
my tragic demise.