There is no man in my life like you

Others say it, but this cliche is true

They say a father is the first man in his daughter's life

Father...some words for you

Do you remember that time when I was nine

Hand on my jaw, they thought I lied

Young, but I was old enough to know, it's time to hide when

Daddy comes home

Daddy

There's a difference between a daddy and a father

A father begats a daughter, a daddy...loves her

A daddy would love me, but instead I grew in fear

I still fear my father after sixteen years

I have you to thank for my low self-esteem

How you would tell me my brains are fried and I could never

Reach my dreams

After your cruel laughter, I never knew I was beautiful

Beautiful, a term you crushed like a lily underfoot

You never wanted daughters, you swore that it was true

So you disregarded the four gifts that God gave you

The funniest thing of all was when you realized the "It"

Could talk

You called me It, gave me courage to disrespect

If I wasn't your child, respect could be neglected

Would you love me better if I died and resurrected?

Sister says don't stress, we'll never be good enough,

Perfect enough

He'll keep erasing and we'll keep changing til you see

No more of us

I watched in hatred and silence

Wincing every time you screamed at my mother

She always said sorry, but you never forgive her

And the time I fell off my bike and had scraped, bloody knees

You made me ride in an intersection after I cried

"No, Daddy! Please."

When I told my mom, you heard through the window

You came inside yelling like my whining needed to stop

Like I was acting up

You was acting out

Wouldn't let my Mommy bandage me, sister came and

Gave me a band-aid then

Wiped my wounded skin, and I never rode again

The reason I fear basketballs and flying projectiles

The trauma's in my mind and I see you

I see you coming at me

That's why I'm afraid of the dark

Now I've grown enough, feisty enough to speak my mind

I talked back because that's my mother

That's my sister

That's my brother

The hurt you give me doesn't compare to the hurt I feel

The hurt when I glimpse my mother's tears

How can I forgive you

I've been hiding all my life and now I let it out

Let it go, I should let you read it so you could know

I used to want your love

And now I want nothing from you

Nothing at all

Thank you for never being there when I needed you

There's always a time when a daughter needs a daddy

You could never be found

Leaving absence in my heart

So much hurt

All sarcasm aside, thank you for putting me in school

That's the one thing I can appreciate you for

But I'd give it all back

If you could take away the war and the roses

On my mother's heart