My Sister's Joy. Her Brother's Folly

I...find slivers of joy in their moments of happiness

when their plans come to fruition and they do better than I.

My own failings and disappointments lay irrelevant,

irreverent but powerless to affect. 

Though my own happiness eludes,

we are as family and their joy is my joy.

Their hope is my hope.

Our humanities collude and collide and support one another.

For what was Man but to be happy?

What was Man but to be kind?

What was Man but to be 

together?

Their slight smiles become my grins, cleaving, cheek to cheek--

become booming laughter tearing from my gut, pulling loose from me like a gale,

a thunderstorm, a clap of sound more menacing than death, more lighthearted than the smiles of a triumphant mother and father.

They become larger than their sum. 

Larger than me--

a piece of the condition

of humanity