Kerma

she used to stand in front of him,
not even daring to look up to his face

a single body movement felt like torture
tears soaking down her face, I think of it now
how painful it would have been for a girl

simply waiting for her father to accept her
to hug her and tell her it’s okay, it wasn’t
a big mistake, it wasn’t a mistake to be a child
it wasn’t a mistake at all, I wonder how
she became afraid of her own parent.