ONE REASON I BELONG TO THE
 CHILDREN OF THE CONFEDERACY

-by Dali Anne King Stern

  A school mate asked me why I want to be,
  A member of the Children of the Confederacy?
  Didn't all of my ancestors own slaves,
  And beat anyone of them that misbehaves?
  Weren't they rebels to a cause without meaning,
  Other than to keep their slaves from fleeing?
  Didn't my ancestors try to destroy our nation,
  Just so they could pursue their wild fascination?

  Well, I stopped her right there and told her the truth,
  But she still had her doubts because of my youth.
  How could I be right when she heard opposite from her teachers,
  As well as from her parents and other anti-Southern preachers?
  I wanted to stop, but to have done so would have been remiss,
  For then my school mate would continue in her misinformed bliss.

  So, I tried that much harder to get her to see,
  And slowly, but finally she began to agree,
  That the gospel from the north wasn't necessarily so,
  And I, as a Southern child, had the duty to show,
  That the reason for the War wasn't about even one slave,
  But instead about how honorable people should behave.

  All of that time just to make one person see,
  I can't do it alone, so I belong to the CofC.