How do I resist Daddy’s charms?

Offering false understandings with hesitant, outstretched arms,

He held me, yet I felt nothing there,

So, I tested Daddy, as if to dare…

Did he love me?

Did he really care?

My credulous tests proved to drive him away,

Our feelings are strained, even to this day.

No matter how hard I try to get close,

We remain divided, painfully remote.

Greed smothers love,

I cannot breathe,

Daddy, I’m still searching…

Can’t you see?

Alone with only the company of myself,

I pull the family pictures off the shelf.

I see fake, happy faces,

Hiding inner pain and family shame,

Forced smiles…looking almost vile.

To combat the tears, I impel a smile.

Still, a fugitive tear makes a hurried escape,

As if to free my soul, to emancipate.