Immigrants Poem

        Immigrants face numerous challenges struggling to assimilate into a new society, while still trying to retain their old cultures and identities. It is difficult for immigrants to adapt to a new society and acquire all the new ways of living that are completely different from their country. Some are discouraged by the limited entrance into their new society's economic, social, and political structure. One of the biggest problems for people immigrating into a new country, especially, refugees who are victims of war in their native country and are forced to displace into new safer territory, is the struggle to maintain the memories of their old country that are tainted with the dark and tragic memories. Some don't speak of these memories so that they can move on from the past; Other's speak of them so that their memories and experiences can be passed on through generations.

        "The Immigrant's Song" is a poem of hope for the future and despair of the past. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator describes his life in his old country. Though he reflects memories of the past, he does not want repeat the past only to move forward into the future.  The the narrator expressing his hopes that the future can bring a new generation of his country that are now native to this new world and can only speak of what they have heard of the country. "Let us stay here, and wait for the future to arrive, for grandchildren to speak in forked tongues about the country we once came from," the speaker does not want to burden the future by speaking of memories from the past but, by only waiting for the future to take it's course with generations to tell stories to them of their country's past . If the past is spoke of it will be only the positive and good memories not the bad dark ones.  Lies of all the good memories they are told, and not the full truth of the dark parts of the country their families came from.

        Speak of the  truth but not the full truth.  The narrator repeats the line "Let us not speak of" many times in the poem when referring to  memories of his country as to say let us move on from this, let's move into the future and not dwell on the past. Though the narrator isn't given a name or origin, readers can empathize with his struggle from trying to retain the memories of his country but, still trying to move forward with his new life. The narrator doesn't want to let go of memories from his past but, doesn't want the bad memories to taint the good ones he remembers like the "when the coffee beans filled the morning with hope."

        Though Tishani Doshi does not directly answer the questions for readers like "where does the speaker come from?" and "where is he now" it's clear that the speaker has come from a  different country and is now living in a new one that is foreign to him. The poem expresses the hopefulness of one's circumstances from leaving their native country and immigrating to a new country while struggling  to maintain their countries memories. The poem goes from the speaker silencing his past to hoping that one day he can tell the story of his past to future generations. However, though he will not be telling these generations the full truth, he'll being passing on the good memories, so that his story isn't one that is lost through a  new generation.