Birthday invites, never sent
To a dad who couldn’t come back from his “trip”
One more year older
But you’re just a kid
And it hurts
As I watch you try to erase him
You wait by the phone
Every airplane looks to you like hope
Your voice a whisper as you remember
Your words lost to the wind
All of your wishes wasted on him
Deep down you know he’s gone
Not why or how but you know
Always smarter than you had to be
But you’re just a kid
You shouldn’t have to think about this
The park turned from a happy place
To a reminder
Because you see him everywhere
You see him in everything
He follows you like a shadow
His words haunt you like a ghost
You make up for his absence in your own head
Too hurt to believe it’s true
With enough love to give for the both of you
And him with nothing to give back
Tears come and go
Like a storm on the beach
Forgotten in an instant
The tide washing over
All the hope you once had
So sadness turned to anger
And laughter turned to hurt
A love meant to be eternal
Now unrequited by a father
Who’s never going to learn
You had so much innocence
And he took it
Like the thief he is
But you loved him regardless
Because you’re just a kid
You’ll get older
And he’ll fade away
Like a memory
Like the mist of the morning,
Gone by sunrise
And you will wonder
Forever changed by a man
Too cowardly to say goodbye
I hate him because you can’t
I cry when you won’t
I love you for everything he can’t see
He doesn’t understand
That you are just a kid
And he never deserved a love as pure as yours.