'Bye 'Bye Baby (Poetry)

Your daddy took a wandering pill —
he never made it home
now I cannot recall his face
on sleepless nights alone

He never wrote or telephoned
he didn’t call — not once
so you grew up not knowing who
or what your daddy was

I only have a name for him
he left no photograph
he’s almost like a character
from some imagined past

Yet you arrived as evidence —
his eyes, his lips, his chin
and asking questions like I knew
what had become of him

I did not lie or hide the truth
there wasn’t much to tell —
he lived with me and then he went
abandoned you as well

He never got to hold you close
he left it up to me
to mend the damage — take the blame
absolve the absentee

I did my best. The world looked on
expecting me to fail
I had this notion truth would out
and love itself prevail

But I was wrong — you packed your bags
when you got to your teens
you swallowed Daddy’s wandering pill —
I guess it’s in the genes