Daughters Poem by David Lewis Paget

How can you say that I didn't care
When I planted a cornfield awave in your hair,
Gifted your eyes of a deep sea blue
That you might see me, and I might see you!

I tinted your skin with the blush of a rose
And I fashioned a tilt to the tip of your nose,
But your lips I moulded from sweet honey-dew
So that you could kiss me, and I kiss you!

Four dainty fingers on each of your hands
And one with a ridge for a wedding band,
While you lisped and you chattered on long through the day
While I smiled and I listened - what more can I say?

I held you sheltered from the hail and the rain
And I tucked you up in a counterpane,
I watched and I whispered as you fell asleep:
‘There's a rosebud blooming on the angel's cheek! '

But the storm-clouds broke, as the storm-clouds will,
And my love was shattered, and my heart stood still,
You were snatched away when I wasn't there…
Now, how can you say that I didn't care?

Let me warn you fathers, and fathers to be
That it doesn't all end as you'd like it to be,
For your little girl grown will tear you apart,
And will leave you aching, as she breaks your heart!