Daddy's Girl
© 2004 Linda D. Delgado All rights reserved
She stood next to her father's side gazing with unseeing eyes before the large audience.
They were gathered to celebrate the wedding of her father to his new bride.
Such happy faces; her face drawn and pinched
The pain clearly etched in the downturn of her trembling lips
Still a child but soon to be a woman
Resentful, hurt, an aching sense of abandonment
Not understanding her father's seeming desertion
Choosing another to be his first love
The marriage vows said
Rings given and accepted
The desperate plea in the child-woman's eyes
The hard swallow and desolate sigh
Blue eyes turned grey; now brimming with unshed tears
The words spoken "Does anyone object to this marriage?"
She shudders violently and opens her sweet lips
The words No! No! screamed silently
As the salty tears roll down her soft cheeks.
She looks at me and I shake my head and bite my lips
She mimics me and bites her own to stifle her anguish
More words and then the pronouncement
Her father beams at the audience; he hugs his new wife
Narry a glance for his daughter weeping silently at his side.
Down the aisle they all troop; she hunches her shoulders and follows
I rush outside the building and see her standing alone
I enfold her in my arms and kiss her gently
He hasn't stopped loving you I whisper gently
She pulls herself away and looks defiant
In a low voice she whispers vehemently
He has his wife, his life. Now I will have mine
He doesn't see me, hear me, know me
I will not know him.
With head held high she squared her shoulders
Down the long line she walked
Took her place at her father's side.
Gone was the sweet child, a stranger in her place.
I stood in the shadows and silently cried.
By Widad
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