Dear Father

 Dear Father,

 

What happened to the bond that we shared?

 It was us against the world.

 When everything was bleak and dark, you were my warmth to go to.

 The one who’s arms I never had to fear.

 Was it when I stopped being your little girl?

 Was it when I started to look like ‘her’.

 Did you see my mother instead of yourself when I grew.

And is that why you threw me away like she did to you?

 I somehow became not good enough.

 Not popular nor smart.

 You started wanting a doll to control.

 Instead of the daughter that was supposed to be in your heart.

 

Dear Father,

 

I am what you created.

I’m outspoken, wild, and free.

I’m a lot like you.

 Yet you don’t like me.

 I’m the person you were before you threw me away.

 The type of person who stands up for the weak even when I’m afraid.

 We look just the same.

 You and I.

 Yet I hate being compared.

 Cause when I look into the mirror I see you.

 And I wonder, dear father, did you ever truly care.

 

Dear Father,

 

I am now grown.

 I’m married and have a kid.

He is just like me, the person you use to know.

 He idolizes me just like I used to for you.

 But I refuse to stop learning.

 I refuse to stop changing.

 To become a better person with each passing year.

 He’ll never know shame for being different.

 For being a little weird.

 I won’t make him hate himself.

 And will help him love every inch of his skin.

 He will feel love unconditional.

 Something you never gave to me.

 For I was always too different as I grew.

 As I changed.

 As I became the person that I am today.

 

Dear Father,

 

Was it puberty that made you hate me so?

 Was it that I refused to obey?

 Was it that I stopped being blind and made my own choices?

 Instead of being your plaything.

 Do you even know who I am now?

 Do you know my favorite color or song?

 Do you know that I’m queer now.

 That your suspicions were never actually wrong.

 Do you know who my friends are?

 Or what I do for fun?

 Or is your new life with your new family more important than your daughter 

The child who is now both your daughter and your son...