Before reading this poem, I want to explain that Daddy is the term I use for my childrens father--it is kind of pertinent to the message I intend, but it can be used either way.






Window

“Come back daddy”
But I can always feel you driving away
You never hear me
Or you turn away
It makes me sad
To learn who I am to you
And sadder still
To learn who you are to me
Keep looking at the window
Hope to see you looking through
Past my reflection
Past your rejection
Keep hoping some day you’ll
See what your missing
And the folly you have been
Giving me up for
But you never do
I explain it less and less to you

All these obligations
All these points of station
And smart people, good people, successful people
Funny people, great people, new best friends
Beginnings no ends
You work so hard for all of them
I hear of those fears and look through your window
Of the words you use
The picture you paint on the wall behind those windowpanes
Look to my feet in defeat at the wall my window is on
When I see my reflection—I see Dawn
But that picture you paint of me and hang for them to see…
Behind the window pain
For yourself, for me…

And I keep saying, “Come back Daddy”
Sometimes pretending that once upon a time you were there,
Looking in