Sometimes we forget
what it means to be human –
that others are human.
Sometimes we forget
that our mother is a person
with hopes, dreams, fears.
Sometimes we forget
that our father is a person
with plans, feelings, insecurities.
Sometimes we forget
that our siblings, friends, peers
are people
with expectations, preferences, assumptions.
Sometimes we forget
that our partners are people
with needs, desires, secrets.
Sometimes we forget
that we are people
with all of those things and more.

These systems have us so occupied
with survival
that we forget what it means to live.
So occupied with doing
that we forget what it means to be.
We pass the time day after day
completing routines,
doing what we have been told
we have to.
And sometimes, we forget
what we have.