refugees, citizens

the story
translates
itself

from silence
to German
to working Spanish

the fly
on the wall
of their apartment
in Caracas

he brings home
the deep stink
of cheese
from their factory

his silence
like the first
dysentery,
endless

this drinking water
is a language
that is a disease
freedom
the elixir of life
mixed with a mini-galaxy
of microbes
and debilitating fever
and the smell of cheese
and the fly on the wall
in the circulating heat
of their small apartment
in Caracas