Dear Daddy,

 

Do you remember that day out on Tiana Bay?

I was four years old,

Big brown eyes, twig legs, and abounding joy.

 

We went on the boat,

After a treacherous voyage across the bay on that

Old, rickety, row boat.

 

Do you remember how that boat lurched from side to side?

I giggled, and screamed,

And you just kept paddling.

 

You weren’t afraid of the water,

Of anything,

And for that you were my hero.

 

Do you remember the day you left?

Cause I don’t,

But I remember the aftermath.

 

Seated on the cracked concrete steps,

My face arranged in a scowl,

Waiting for my daddy.

 

Do you remember when I broke my arm?

Fourth grade me, impervious to the pain of the world,

Fell off my scooter and broke it in 2 places.

 

You don’t remember though,

Cause you were never there.

Not even a phone call.

 

Do you remember my first band concert?

I squeaked out Hot Cross Buns,

Beaming at the audience.

 

Then there was my first choir concert,

Softball, Basketball, the Spring Musicals, the Fall Dramas,

Both my middle school and high school graduation.

 

Do you remember where you were during the nineteen years of my life?

Occupied by a new family,

And a new vice.

 

The “perfect” father to a new baby girl,

With a deadly secret that

Tore you away from me.

 

So, tell me father,

Do you even remember me at all?

 

Sincerely,

A Stranger