Maybe in Another Life

Maybe, in another life, you could’ve been a better husband, and I... a better daughter. But this life? It’s heavy. Too much seen. Too much felt. And now, every wound overshadows your warmth. And I hate myself for that. For forgetting your good, because I can’t unsee the rest. Who would've thought, being a daughter, could hurt like this? You did everything a father should, put food on the table, kept the lights on, kept us safe. But I watched how cold, you were with her. My mother. Your silence louder, than anything you ever said. And now that I’m grown, I see it all. And it breaks me. Because as a daughter, I love you. But as a woman, as a witness, I struggle to. There's a split inside me, the child who reached for your hand, and the woman who pulled hers away when you wouldn’t reach for Mom's. Maybe, in another life we’d both be better. But in this one, we carry what we didn’t say, and the love that never quite knew how to stay. ~Sayeda~