They would spread lies,
On my sisters and I.
And they were relatives.
Preparing us very early...
How vindictive folks can be!
Regardless of bloodlines!
Or professed thickness of clans,
With underhanded jealousies unraveling
Any hint of closeness between members!
Just as long as they received some attention,
To merit a lack of consciousness displayed
By ignorance paraded around,
With applied unfounded accusations!
And being used as the fools they are as tools...
To diminish concepts of family!
But they had no idea...
If it was not for my mother,
Who protected us with her own fears...
We would not know that concept at all!
Her tears would fall to make me bitter...
To discover their origin!

Lawrence S. Pertillar

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if-it-was-not-for-my-mother/