Cheer him up to no avail

For he’s pinned up inside by the devil’s nails

Father he tries to act the part

Poorly half the time, playing the drunkard lark

Happy a day- then drowned in misery the next

Not bothering to hide his anger yet

And the children they know, they feel the fear

Hiding in their rooms, letting out silent tears

Little girls dare make no noise

Father now, he hates the emotion and does it he despise

No, it’s not the innocent, though he takes it out on them

But it’s himself, deep inside, with the way he screams and offends

He sinks into depression horrible, terrible, deep like the ocean

And I, labeled caring, must go fishing for him out of devotion

Love him not, but my mother does

Yet he casts her aside in times like this, no one knows the cause

And so I swim down to the dark abyss

To find his heart, soul, and all that he has missed

It’s so difficult not to sink or be pulled in

By the waves of the ocean in which he swims

And the words he says, they sting and sear

But for my mother and sister’s sake I walk among his landmines

Building up a strong resolve, that shatters with every grain of time

Every grain of sand that filters through the hourglass

But for my mother, and for my sister, these steps must rise and surpass

The seaweed that ties and tangles and pulls all beneath a raging thunder

The seaweed that pulled my dad down under

Of all, I am sick, I am ill with a disease yet diagnosed

But still, I am the one dubbed most compassionate, one to never impose

And so, in his eyes, I am the one who must gather all my strength

And delve into the darkness in which he’s fallen at length

Has anyone realized, that I’m the least suitable

That I could easily join the spider web, has no one thought it futile?

Oh, I am ill, every day- and I put on a facade, and try to praise them all the same

But deep inside, the loneliness, the feeling of being the one in pain

Drives me to believe, within, that his sanity is losing out

Because forcing me, who should be cared for, to soar about (…like some guardian angel)

Is simply too much, father, I am only a girl, your daughter, and vitally ill

And in my desperate state, back in time, you’d not even visit me in the hospital

I am but a girl, (….your daughter at that)

I don’t need these burdens

Rely on someone else- I beg of you please

Someone to satisfy you,

To put and end to your screams