Nightmare

I wake up. It was only
a nightmare. I shake my head
waiting for the picture
to leave my mind. It doesn’t. I try
to go back to sleep, but I can’t.
Everytime I close my eyes, I see
the image again.

“Daddy!” I’m yelling. I don’t
want him to leave. “Come back!
Come back!” But he
doesn’t. He’s gone forever.

No! I won’t let myself think
like that! I lay on my bed,
torn, like scraps of paper.

Why? Why does this kind of thing
happen? Why am I taken over by fear
like this? So many questions
in my head. Why? I feel
suddenly consumed by grief.
Betrayal. Loneliness.

Another image. Left alone
when I was but a little girl. Left
emptyand ignored, standing
on the driveway. I woke up crying
tonight, calling out his name.
He never came.

Who was he?
Did he love me?
Why did he leave?

Then I wake up. My dad
is sitting there. He is shushing
me, telling me not to worry,
it will be alright.

It was only a nightmare.