Your face, that smile,
would I still be despised
What if I was born a boy,
would you have left me
hungry on the cold kitchen floor
What if my smile wasn’t so bright,
when I saw you late at night
What if my brown eyes, didn’t gleam with unshed tears,
when you forgot a promise, once again
What if I didn’t see, that hand raised, against a woman,
who cleaned and slaved, for a love she never had as a daughter
What if I was one of your demons, when trapped
in the bends, I wouldn’t have been ignored,
like so many bills
What if, that one time you came, I didn’t refused,
to sit on your lap, so you could kiss my face,
when, unkempt, you smelled of stale cigarettes,
booze and cheap sex
What if you had called, once, to see if I had enough
instead of drowning your demons, in gin
What if I didn’t judge every man, by the sins
of an abusive
Perhaps, then, love would win
What if I didn’t ignore the drunk on the corner
begging for a dollar
from a daughter he didn’t recognize
And what if, before you died,
you acknowledge
You weren’t the father
this daughter
should have had
Copyright © 2013 Glynis Rankin
