I Forgot I Was A Father

Once I forgot I was a father,
Once I forgot how much I missed,
Until that fateful day
When I saw her forgotten face.

Two barren months staggered by,
Two pieces of my heart
Crumbled beneath the gunfire
Toward the depths of hell.

Three steps I took to trudge
Three breaths I sighed to see
That over the hill I staggered
With numb legs and soggy toes.

Four times I blinked in shock
Four clouds passed overhead
When there she sat in waving grass
And in her I saw my own child.

Five innocent fingers played with a doll
Five tears rolled over my cheeks
As in that Vietnamese child
Sat my precious daughter.

Six more steps I took to reach her,
Six seconds went by slowly
When I reached out my loving hand
To offer her help and friendship.

Seven times she shrieked with fright,
Seven echoes blazed the hills
She saw me as a soldier,
As a danger in the daylight.

A hundred miles my heart sank,
A hundred times it wept,
For in this time of war and blood,
I was no father.