explanation:
It is an ode written about his father. He might have written it for the occassion of his father's death, or simply because he is getting older himself and the language of his father is coming back to him.
He describes his father:
- he liked gardening
- hard worker
- didn't need much sleep
- worked in a Nazi labour camp for five years, which didn't break him. He is as kind as ever (did not dull the softness in his eyes)
- spoke Polish, and not english, even though he lived in the US now.
- is very happy with life and has a very positive attitude
- tried to teach his son respect for his mother tongue
The latter is amazingly put. At thirteen he is struggling with latin (de bello gallico, about the war in Gaul (modern France) by Julius Caesar, and forgets his first Polish word. There is irony here. He learns a dead language no one speaks anymore, , and starts to forget his native language, which is still very much alive.
The author also calls up the feeling of the father still being very Polish in a country not his own (he never lost his language, never even learnt english), while the author is drawn more to the new country. I think it is a story a lot of immigrants can identify with, still today.
Ironically, and this says a lot about the character of his father, it is not the author who is most happy, even though you would expect him to feel more at home. It is his father: Happy as I have never been.
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