Dear Daddy

Sifting through the photos I see the laughter and the tears.
I see a man who had a loving family.
He had a daughter who loved him so.
He was her world.
She wanted her children’s father to be exactly like him but with hair.
He had his faults, but none that she could see.
All she saw was someone she loved dearly.
As time passes, with each picture taken, changes are made.
The little girl starts to grow up.
Her daddy was still there, but he kept moving farther and farther away.
Until one fateful day.
To her everlasting surprise, she watched with her very own eyes, her world came to its demise.
As I look through these pictures, I see less shots of this little girl.
The years go by and her pictures are few and rare.
When I do catch a glimpse, what I see is appalling.
I see a mind so wrought with chaos, it’s a wonder she functions at all.
I see a girl who trusts no one.
A girl who thinks that everything will be bad, nothing can be good.
But worst of all, I see me.


Note: I wrote this poem many years ago, and although I dislike it strictly based on the rhyming patterns, it fits with this moment in my life.