A Father's Daughter

A Daughter to love and to cherish
A daughter to adore and to protect
A daughter to educate and to struggle for
A daughter to give away in marriage

Then a daughter you cannot see when her husband forbids
A daughter you can talk to only if her time permits
A daughter who’s no longer his to adore ,
Only memories to possess and to store..

I’ve got my own family to care for she says..
What’s an own family, I . a daughter, dare you to state..
And if ownership of the fathers genes is of any merit..
Let it be known that the chromosomes are not your own..

My dad’s got sons..you say..and daughters in law
So is it the father’s fate to talk only to them all ?
whether liked, understood or cherished ?
What of the bond he shared with his daughter?
Does it have no consequence or bearing on the matter?

And what if it’s daughters are all he has
His life forlorn after the spouse he’s lost?
What of the wisdom and generosity he’s shown to them
His own little pleasures he’s given up for them?

After an entire lifetime of giving and struggling..
Is he to be cast off from his dearly loved moorings?
Just coz you are his daughter – and what the hell does it matter ?
Are you not going to accommodate him in your life?

If no son he has..and no interest in a new spouse..
Isn’t it the done thing to keep him close?
So what if in-laws be and gnash their teeth..
A woman has a right to be free and speak the truth
When to the hearth she gives love, food , hope and money..
Can she not have the pleasure of giving her dad harmony?

Why ..oh why are we so horrendously cruel ?
Are dads to be forgotten in the new life we’ve woven?
Isn’t a girl’s dad also her son’s grandfather ?
With so much wisdom to share and so much love to bare?

Speak up all daughters..speak up in one voice
That dads the world over can always rejoice
In the fact that his sweet little daughter is also for him’
And her family, her friends, her kids, her spouse, all love him.