Daddy's Gone

The carpet hits her bare feet as she runs to his arms;
Hiding her face into his chest as he keeps her from harm,
And he flashes a milky smile down at her sweet face,
As she runs to and fro with an untouchable grace.

Blond hair sweeps across her dirt covered cheeks,
And she shakes in fear; legs becoming so weak,
But with his reassuring laugh; he wipes her tears,
Equipped with a flashlight; he chases away her fears -

The monsters that go bump in the middle of the night,
That fill her bright and vivid blue eyes with such fright -
Run at the sight of his light; and she smiles and sighs:
"Thanks Daddy, you'll always be my favorite guy."

And with a tear in his eye; he slowly closes her door,
Repeating the words that she softly layed down and swore,
But ten years later and standing alone and so strong,
She thinks back; wondering where they had gone wrong.

The Hollywood life sucked him in and ate him alive;
Left him with cheap hotels and wh0res to survive,
But in a wooden castle looking up toward the broken charcoal sky,
She lays alone with a melancholy tear in her tortured eye.

And pieces of the broken stars fall into her cracked heart,
As she swears at him for playing the dreaded part -
Laughing as she thinks of him on the street from dusk 'till dawn,
Finally accepting the reality that her beloved Daddy's gone.

-Jenna Elphick
July 3, 2007