Thanks Father Poem by Ashley Stone

You treated us all so differently
Yet all the same
Family dinners were strained
Fake smiles accross the table

Thank you for letting me see the real you
Thanks for allowing me to be the one that felt I had to do something
Thanks for leaving me as the one to pick up the pieces
Thanks its just what I needed

For christmas when you gave me a broken family and a dad on the run
I never got the chance to thank you
So accept this as my apology
Let me express my graditude

All I ever wanted was a broken childhood
And I got it
Complete with a crying mother and a father who was barely there
I really loved the time we spent together

You know when we used to have those father daughter moments
Like when my sister had to call the police to pry you off our screaming mother
That was better than any birthday gift

Finally, I just want to say thank you for always being around when I needed my mother to be beaten
When I wanted our lives to be shifted
Thanks for being there with a new reason we had to move

Thanks for leaving us all to fend for oursleves
Thanks for taking my educated lawyer of a mother into the slums with you
Bringing her back dirty and exposed to your world
Now she can never get out

Thank you daddy