If I had any super power

It would be time travel

I would go back to the day

You decided I wasn’t good enough

To stick around for

And look you in the eye

And make you see

The daughter you missed out on

The eyes you never got to see how bright

They shine

Or how much they look

Just like yours

The hair you never brushed

Or braided

Or curled

For all my ballet recitals

That never happened

Because my single father

Couldn’t afford them

The body you never hugged

In its girlhood

And will never get to

Because I am a woman now

And your arms don’t wrap

Comfortably around me

I’m taller than when you left me

Then you looked down at me

But now you are forced to look up

Not just for sake of height

But because I’ve become so much more

Than you ever could have dreamed

For yourself

The hands you never held

To cross the street

They are callused now

From years of use

But still never as cold as yours

The lips that tell everyone you are dead

Because it is easier than admitting

You chose to leave.

m.h.champion