Family Secrets

They're nothing important now, 
though they must have been 

at some point in their writing: 
depositions, sworn statements; 

judgments that sent the innocent 
back to their wives, or sentenced 

the guilty to punishment. A yellowed
letter fell out of a sheaf of crumpled 

pages bound together with rubber 
bands—It read like a map slowly

uncovering hidden markings, tracking
your life back to an origin you didn't yet

know. Sometimes you wonder:  if you 
hadn't uncreased its folds to read, 

would the libretto carry a different song, 
life fill with a different cast of characters?

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