Once, I clutched a spark of love, small, but mine,
A fragile flame for the man who gave me time.
I waited on the edge of every word you said,
A daughter craving pride, not silence in its stead.

But what you chose defies all reason, all soul,
You picked a woman who shattered your whole.
She broke your trust, but still, you stayed,
While my truth, my tears, you brushed away.

She fed you lies like they were gospel truth,
Let her family mock you, insult you, uncouth.
All while I stood, the child you made,
Bruised by the war you and mother waged.

Tell me what did I do to earn your scorn?
I bore your name, but felt so torn.
Was I not enough? Too much like her?
Or just the ghost of battles you never could blur?

You hated her, so you hated me too.
You made it known your silence screamed through.
You didn’t even hide it, your heart spoke plain:
“I never wanted you, you’re her living stain.”

So now I shed this final skin,
No longer aching for your love within.
I disown you not from anger alone,
But from peace I find when I call myself my own.

Don’t come back with words, they’re hollow and late,
I’ve buried the hope and sealed the gate.
You’re no longer the father I once wished to see,
That man never existed, not for me.

I owe you nothing. I want no part.
I’ve carved you out of my aching heart.
This is goodbye, the end of my tether.
And may you feel my absence forever.

I sit with silence heavy in my chest,
A weight no words have ever addressed.
He walks past like I’m just a breeze,
Never knowing he brings me to my knees.

He doesn’t know me, not really, not deep,
He only sees when I mess up or weep.
And every harsh word, every cold eyed glance,
Kills me slowly, like a second chance
That never comes.

I wish he knew how I swallow my cries,
How behind my anger, my true self lies.
I say I hate him but I swear it’s not true,
I just hate the way he makes me feel blue.
Because if I didn’t love him this much,
His distance, his choices wouldn’t hurt as such.

I wish the past hadn’t torn our home in two,
I wish they’d fought to stay, instead of pushing through.
I wish he made smarter moves.
God, don’t you see?
I wish he had chosen to fix this for me.
But I hate this family, this fractured thing,
Held together with pain and old remembering.

Yet in the middle of this chaos, these storms I hide,
Are my siblings, my heartbeat, my pride.
They don’t know how often they’ve saved my soul,
How they’re the reason I haven’t lost control.

Sometimes I dream of letting go,
Of the tears, the pain, the endless “no.”
Of being someone better, someone real.
Not what they assume, but what I feel.
Free not judged, not broken, not small,
Just standing, for once, and not ready to fall.

I want to be happy. Just once, just me.
Not pretending, not pleasing, but finally free.
I want to smile and mean it. Not fake, not forced.
To love without wounds, to live without remorse.

But until that day, I write these lines,
In the quiet between my broken signs.
Hoping he sees, or maybe someday hears,
The truth buried under all these years.

I loved him.
I love him.
Even when it hurts too much.
And I wish that could be enough.