In Spoleto, you often see the elderly around town.
Even the infirm have help and ways of getting around.

One day, as we cross Piazza della Vittoria with groceries,
An older woman stops her nurse, determined to talk to us:

“Inglese,” she asks in one of the few bits of the language
I have at my command. To our reply, “Non, americano”

An insistent “thank you” issues repeatedly from her lips.
Why she might be speaking in tongues we wonder ever since.