A Girl Without A Father

I wish I could have learned
how to love a man.

A girl without a father
lives on a perilous tight rope-
If she leans left;
she is broken,
desperate for a man’s love-
craving that sandalwood scent
and finds solstice in any
pair of brooding, detached eyes.

If she leans right-
she will learn to despise all men
as she stares into her mother’s tired
and ruined eyes-
She will learn to be independent,
Learning how to catch,
play sports and spit,
change a tire, fix the sink
arm wrestle and fight-

But when she falls in love,
she is hopeless.
Whispers and fetid lies
work through her brick wall
defenses-
“Men are all pigs!”
“All they do is cheat!”

A girl without a father is a tragic thing
Especially when she
gets her heartbroken.
No father to apologize
For all mankind
No father to wipe the tears
No father there to tell her
she’s beautiful
and any man will be lucky to have her.
No, the girl will wipe her eyes
and move on,
Her father’s hateful face in the back of her mind
Because she has experienced heartache before;
her father.

A girl without a a father is a tragic thing-
But when a father breaks his daughters heart-

Well, she is on her own.