Daddy's Little Girl

Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it, like a
lichen on the rock. - Frankenstein's Monster (M. Shelley, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, 1818)

Daddy’s Little Girl

In the dark room,
She hides alone,
Bewildered by her heart,
Grey and mysty─
Betraying.  Always                                                  5
Uncertain.
Her child’s mind,
Fogged with clear memories
Of a time, when she was
Daddy’s little girl.                                                  10

She cries.
Under the covers,
No dank smell.
Under the bed,
No dusty bunnies.                                                  15
Just waiting,
For Daddy to come,
Carry her
Into the twilight─
Together.                                                            20                                       

He is tall─
Larger than life─
Her’s.
Handsome in her eye,
There is goodness in him.                                        25
Misery made him a fiend─
A Frankenstein.
Indeed, so powerful,
So virtuous in his little girl’s eyes,
And now, so base.                                                  30

In her endless dream,
He always finds her,
Always picks her up.
Like a wilted flower,
She leans into him─                                                  35
Head on his shoulder.
She watches as he walks,
Cradling her through
Alluding darkness─
Her nightmare.                                                  40

He says nothing.
Both, searching for
Roses that grow on
Clover stalks.
Melancholy,                                                  45
She screams─                                                  
Lost and muted by                                        
Dense clouds
Of confusion─
No one will hear.                                                  50

Her dream fades,
In his arms,
Exhausted─
Faint.
Time and again,                                                  55
The dream returns,                                        
Beyond her youth,
Into a lifetime of
Childish memories as
Daddy’s little girl.                                                  60