Telling My Father

Daddy
You needed a golden-haired princess
A child with no needs
A virgin, pure and white.
I kept my secrets as much for you as for me;
I tried to be what you needed
and hoped so hard
that you would be what I needed.

You betrayed me, Daddy
You made yourself my whole world,
my only hope,
Then refused to rescue me.
You trapped me and overwhelmed me
in your needs so that I would lose sight of my own.

The Self remembers, Daddy,
After years of abuse and torture, it was you who pushed her
over the edge.
Your rejection, your neglect, your irresponsibility
destroyed her.

Everything I am today, I am because of me,
Everything I could have been, I lost because of you.


Jackie Turner