she was about to sell us to gypsies

i sincerely

believed that my mother

or father

was going to sell us to gypsies,

black robed

and moaning,

when we

lived in Castle del fel.

they wanted

something,

money food, maybe another

child to tend

to their flock

of whatever animals

were in the back of their

horse pulled wagons.

the woman stood

up

with her naked brown

baby

and said something in her

language.

more like a song

than a plea

for mercy.

my mother gave them bread,

and wine,

and whatever else

she could find to fend

of the curses they might put on us.

we hid under bed

until we heard the hooves

marching onward

with the crack of a whip.