Truth Be Told

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The varied stories of Gale Anor

late summer, 1583

Sorted tales of Marker Manor

and 6 missing ships out on the sea

A wild fable or a myth

at least that's what we all believed

Until that day of summer solstice

when we learned, we'd been deceived

Everyone gathered in the village

just beyond the willow trees

To view the ones adorned with privilege

my sister, Emma, mama and me

The town was bustling with commotion

sweet magic floated in the air

We'd foregone any foretold notion

about the stories of despair

The town sat nestled by the ocean

in an inlet, full of trade

There, lived witch, with magic potions

deep in the shadows of nightshade

She mixed her brew and sold it daily

crafting spells and voodoo dolls

The folks around thought she was crazy

baring tattoos of sailor skulls

She weaved her tales and forged her stories

fear fed her every appetite

Each time she told it grew more gory

the missing ships, her favorite

My sister longed to know her fortune

my mother begged her, stay away

But she called on the ol' sea urchin

paid her high toll, anyway

We stayed outside, we dare not enter

we heard her screams, but did not go

My mama's tears, once soft and tender

now like a raging river flowed

For in the darkness of her nightshade

my sister's soul was cut away

To find the answers of the handmaid

the cost much more than she could pay

Her love, the captain of the sixth ship

the last to meet its fateful end

He'd vowed to have her powers stripped

so, to his death, he was condemned

My sister, full of rage exploded

she swore her lover to avenge

The witch her weaknesses exploited

and poured on Emma, sweet revenge

My mother grabbed my sister's satchel

within, a spell, she'd cast herself

Though up in age, so far from fragile

and trapped the witch up in her spell

She took the prisoner to the seashore

placed three drops of water on her tongue

Began the first Gale Anor's folklore

forever powerful and young

She trapped her in an incantation

a secret she could never tell

to serve as mama's attestation

she tore from her skin the tattooed skull

She placed the tattoo on her forehead

renewed my sister's soul, to her

The sailor's she had left for dead

showed up, intact, upon the shore

The witch was banished from the village

sent to serve the weakest man

No one could know she'd lost her privilege

bound by mama's strict commands

Mama and I still live among them

to flesh and blood, we were unbound

The power of the witch began then

and when the parties all close down

Mama rises in the late day

the longest day of every year

Protecting ships out in the harbor

and sailors from shadows of fear

The witches' wares still sell at Marker Manor

but cannot reverse my mama's curse

The skulls symbol flies there, as the banner

safety is granted from sea purse

To this day, they still speak of it

they celebrate it in the streets

The day that evil was outwitted

that day a year, magic's complete

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