Spilled Tea

Past And Premonitions Pt. 2

Dad,
are you sure she is
your blood?

Love means different to her
than it does to you.

Your ignorant ideals
feed the thoughts of the man
that would hold her down
in that useless perspective
of what her future would hold
that laid inside
her fourteen year old head.

No.

No, no, no, she refuses to give in.

Dad,
if feeding your pride
in your family involves
the destruction of her,
she will not abide.

She cannot abide.

She does not speak of the pain anymore
for she uses it to
motivate her mind
to make the changes
that it needs to support
the becoming of the future
that will be satisfactory
to her.

Dad,
your daughter
is sixteen
and she cannot live
striving for a future that will
tear her insides to shreds.

She has let go of the yearning
for your ever present approval.

Dad,
she is twenty-eight
and she walked down the isle
staring only into the eyes
of the woman who finally
gave her consistent serenity.

She has palpitations in her chest
instead of the rocks
that were there before.

Dad,
do you walk her down the isle?

This she does not know.

You may not love the same as her,
but are you with her?

But Dad,
in the beginning
your daughter
was fourteen
and you begged her to silence
all her sinful temptations,
and she tried.

She tried too long,
and she won't.

She cannot.

But are you her blood?

This will be determined
by whether you are next to her
the day she wears a white dress,
not yearning for your approval
but desperate for some understanding.

Because Dad,
is there not any pride
in the strength
and success
of finally gaining happiness
that lives inside that girl
who used to be
the small child
that sat in your lap on the couch?

Are you with her whilst she
walks down the isle?

Are you sure you are her blood?

-2017