I should have known it was a power thing,
For some it’s nice to have control.
Your whole life was about control,
Toilet seats had to be always down,
The ice cube tray always filled,
The books arranged in alphabetic order,
The dust cleaned from the door frame,
Pillows arranged in their correct order,
The rug never ruffled.
And a God in heaven.
I must have been such a disappointment,
A slow learner with my laissez faire ways,
Though I loved you so completely,
In the end you had those ambivalent thoughts.
I was just another statistic,
Of people who believed in you,
And were shabbily discarded,
Without a respectful word.
Your children fought a guerrilla war against you,
They gained some control,
Though they had to jump through hoops,
At times too.
But I was a lost cause,
The player who strutted and fretted his hour,
And then was heard no more,
The mouse being teased by the cat,
Destroyed and then discarded.
I was only left with sadness…a deep sadness,
Of one that didn’t love wisely,
But too well.