All I ever wanted
what I always needed most
was for you to love me back
Was it so much to ask?

To feel my one true father's love
for a moment of eternity
unprescribed and undemanding
love beyond the reprimanding
punishment that never teaches
one to love all life
or even just themselves

I tell myself I'm blessed
to have learned the very best
even if the driving force
was an emptiness of heart
while through it all, in secrecy
I felt and dreamed
and schemed of brighter days
that seldom came

I grew and then became
a parent just like you
and wondered how you never knew
the touch of wander and of awe
that love's creations bring
as I learned to laugh and sing
and be a child at last
through my own children's great example

How sad - you never knew
the worth and meaning found
within a child's smile
and even though you're gone from me
I pray you might look down and see
me smile this smile for you . . .

Bittersweet
the wisdom found
sometimes too soon
and other times too late
to change the fate
of one we love . . .

?Michaelette?