Family Colors

The hot wars, acid suspicions
and other pleasantries
of our families both blood and chosen

keep boiling into the fabric
of our robes and threaten
to scald the threads,

stripping them bare
of any color and half or more
of their strength.  

We are soggy and scared,
burned, either afraid to stand up
or defiant and ready to scream.

What are we going to be —
the same cloth as always,
or something new

that drapes us naturally
and shows us off with deep color
and soft hand?