Home > Resources > Family Reunion

Family Reunion

By Deborah LeFalle

New moon
midnight sky
tall trees obscure
desolate road
in back woods
of small southern town

Darker than black
can't see hands
arms' length away
frightening—
indescribable
uneasiness

Hard imagining
ancestors' anguish
ruthless attacks
on their very being
hatred, bigotry
inhumanity

Lifetimes of
oppression
crooked necks
from looking back
over shoulders
to see next day

Acquiescence
all too common
yet better than
dangling bodies
numbed to death
by knotted nooses

Courageous folk
who endured the
unthinkable
for survival's sake
It's a miracle
we’re even here.