You bit down, didn’t you?
Clung to your word tighter than your gospel
Real men punch down, true?
Didn’t care that it cost you your daughter,
Did you?

I knew you had to try it—
To defeat
To dominate
To demonize
To destroy
Your daughter

You were always like clockwork.

Did you get off to
The wreckage
The vacancy
The mourning
In the cavernous eyes
Of your daughter?

Did it make you hard?

It’s pitiful you’ll miss out on
Her second decade
Her golden heart
The laughing memories
The everyday merriment we’ll make
With your daughter

I almost feel bad for you.

As promised long ago, I will love her
Protect her
Show up for her
Everything you forgot to offer
Your daughter

You’ll never drag her as low as you dragged me.

You’re on a road to death
Without fanfare
Without love
Without dignity
And without any of
Your daughters

Have you made your father proud?


© Jaz Rogers