Oh Daughter/Disaster - Parenthetical Girls

Oh my daughter

Legs in plaster

Taught to keep her

Knees together

Oh my daughter

Skin grew over

And taught to walk some

Three years later

Oh my daughter

The fragile features of your mother

They’re buried under

The plainer features of your father

Oh my daughter

Life rushed from you

And split in ways you

Weren’t meant to

And oh my daughter

Such crushing pressure

At half the age of

Your poor mother

Oh my daughter

Your ruddy cheeks will never weather

And buried under

The fragile features of your mother