Remember What You’re Living For

To my brother,

In this crowded house, 

is there something you yearn for outside these walls? 

We come from a family of factory workers and survivors

where spoken language is fractured across cultures, generations,

and lifelong fears.

Your sister worries

that someday we will get old

and one of us will forget. 

For now, 

don’t be afraid.

For our lives are not only ours,

we are not the first ones to look up at the sky

from the ground.

The stories unspoken between us

have never needed words at all.