Can I do?
Do nothing right?

“Wear Jeans Not Capris”
You say with a smile
But the smile is only skin deep
In your heart it is a smirk
For you seem to know you’ve exercised my dwindling patience again

It seems as though to you
Your children can do no wrong
Unlike me, who to you can do nothing right

“Don’t take that from your brother”
I want to say,
“He was folding the thing even though Mal and I talked
Talked about how she handmade them”
But instead I say sorry and walk to my room

I walk to my room and
Collapse on my bed
Deep breaths and thoughts of family who love me
Are the only things that keep me
Keep me from crying

“Why are you wearing
Flip-flops? Go change into tennis shoes”
I do so with a remark but change ‘em anyway
Then later he says to me
“Aren’t you glad you wore tennis shoes?”
“Well you told me it was going to be warm but
Apparently I changed like she commanded…”
Then you think it is okay to bring up the fact
That I changed my shoes and gave her ‘lip’ on the way up

You turned my only support over there
Into a melting stick of butter
I try to grab on for support
But I come back with
A handful of junk that you
Tell him to say

“You ruined my new towels
(Even though you bought them for the kids)
With your face wash”
But it wasn’t me
“You ruined my curtains
(Even though they are curtains lining the FAMILY room)
By playing behind the couch”
But it wasn’t me

Each day is full of my
Attempts to do things right
And my failure to do so in your eyes

“You are lucky that didn’t fall over
(The overly priced lamp)
Or else you would owe me four-hundred dollars”
Even though the dog almost knocked it
Over with her butt
And I stopped it’s descent to the floor
And stopped it from crashing into “your carpet”

You say you are tired
Tired of the lies
And I would be too
If I lied as much as you do

I run into his car
“I got straight A’s!” I announce
All A+’s A’s and one A-
But I get home to find you bragging
Bragging to all that will listen
Mal’s all A+ and A grades
And you look at me with a look
Of laughter in your eye
That your baby did better than me
Again

I guess I will never be able
To do things right in your eyes
And in the eyes of those around you that
You have infected

Including the one I used to run to
The one I used to call my hero
The one I used to call Papa and Daddy and Padre and Father
I used to be Daddy’s Little Girl
You’ve turned him into something different
Different from the Daddy I loved
He is unreliable like melting butter
Just like you
Except your words are coming out of both mouths