Catching Colds

Long ago, they used to dance
He the tiger, she the dove
Her name inspired him to think of a romance
With non-existing words of love
That only she would understand

They move into a common cocoon
And since all they have are good times
A daughter's born pretty soon
Cozy days & nursery rhymes

Soon enough, the little one's number 1 and the husband's number 3
Mother's overprotective love consumes all her energy
His lover days are over, a father is all he'll be
Hunting & gathering until retirement at 63
The daughter's catching colds, and it worries her so much
Is the baby gonna die? She's on a 24-hour-watch
Her pathological behavior makes them argue all year long
And before they know it, all hope of reconciliation is gone

They break up & enter litigation
She says: "I'll banish you from fatherhood"
"No custody-sharing" is her lawyer's motivation
"No more access to your girl, that's understood"
All of their daughter's future in the lawyer's hands

Now his wife's name conjures up this desire
To find an insult that outperforms all
Earlier insults he has thrown at her
A dirty war with a toxic fall

The kid is damaged by her mother's propaganda
Parental alienation settles in deeply
She tells her husband, "I don't need you, so you're not on the child's agenda"
Narcissistic projection onto the child as her whole reality
She succeeded in killing contiguous time
Now the kid is twelve and makes him feel like a fool
He's been accused of each & every father's crime
And he's not allowed even to pick her up at school

The network of family connection breaks down
All the cables are unplugged
He moves to another town
And all the paths to his daughter are clogged
His life looks like nothing he had planned

The garbage barge of his problems comes into the harbour
And there's a new shipment coming in every day
Now the daughter's 16 and she hates her father
The ulcers of solitude kill him, he starts to rot away

Whatever light her love produced & spread through him
Time has darkened to a black hole
With only silence from deep within
The utter blackness taking its toll

Plumbing his depths of existence a little more as time goes by
The little bird has long ago ceased to fly
His only wish is to sing one last lullaby
And then a bow, the curtain to an eternal goodbye