Anna Wickham’s short lyric describes the transforming closeness of love. Being near the beloved makes the speaker feel like a child again: still, simple, and untouched by adult complexity or guilt. She says she speaks her love “in a forgotten tongue,” meaning she returns to an earlier, more innocent language of emotion — the words and feelings she knew when she was young. The beloved has not merely comforted her; he has restored her. In his presence, she recovers the happiness of childhood, as if love gives back a part of herself she thought was lost. The mood is tender and quietly joyful, with a sense of safety and renewal. There is no irony or distance here, only gratitude and intimacy. The poem celebrates love as a healing force that makes the speaker whole again by reviving her earliest, purest self.
The Little Language — Summary
When I am near you, I am like a child, I'm still and simple, I am undefiled. I speak my love in a forgotten tongue. And use the words I knew when I was young. My Love! You have restored me in a hundred ways. You gave me back my happy childish days.