When the Swamp spoke

The whole town fell aghast

And no longer could the family

Hide it's lurid; lachrymose past

 

When the Swamp spoke

Skeletons surfaced one by one

With every piece of every bone

The family name came undone

 

Skeleton upon skeleton

Spanning decades back

To the time of cotton fields

Without the whip's crack

 

Skeleton of sots who had many tots

Yet parents they could not be

For they continuously sought their lot

In their liquor rhapsody

 

Skeleton of abuse

The husband used to beat the wife

And she turned around

And abused her tykes

 

Well two of them

The youngest she favored

Even after he became an adult

His presence and voice were savored

 

A skeleton of complexity

Mistreatment, manipulation, abuse

Some call it growing up black

Others call it growing up ill used

 

The skeletons were connected by a complexity 

Known as codependency

As generations ignored it, it was perpetuated

Until one offspring decided it would no longer be tolerated

 

And so with the truth exposed

The family name in the mud

The offspring now realizing that faith

Is stronger than toxic blood