A Shadowy Orality in the Family History

He shrugged. I’m not surprised.
I mean, I never thought
Of it as history

Or even noticed it
Was a little different
From what I learned in school

On the Revolution,
But in my family
People talked casually

About which ancestors
Fought with the patriots,
Which with the loyalists.

It wasn’t a big deal.
It does seem weird now, though,
To find out after all

This time, how violent
It was, and how neighbors
Massacred each other,

And families split up,
And then most of it got
Covered up. We kept it

I guess, as part of us.
Must have kept it quiet.
Stories to tell inside.