He was in charge.
She was a girl.
He knew what he did.
She felt confused.

For a time, she would sit on his lap.
He taught her to braid.
She laughed at his jokes.

But the father would change
from innocent love
to torturous gain.
Will I ever leave this terrible pain?

He was a father.
She was a daughter.
The power imbalance
would soon be forgotten.

She knew it was wrong.
He didn’t care.
All he said was,
“I’m lonely, that’s all.”

She felt betrayed
by the fatherly figure
who turned out to be
just a monstrous image.

The fatherly man
was a father no more.
She knew he wasn’t to trust
he lost it all
in a moment of touch.

The man she once called father
was nothing like that.
No, not at all.
Just a monster
with no care at all.