There’s a chair you’ll never notice,
Though I see it every day.
It sits beside her tiny dreams
The place where you should’ve stayed.
She doesn’t know she’s missing you.
Not yet. She’s still too small.
She thinks the world is made of love,
And that someone comes when children call.
She waves at every passerby.
She laughs when someone says hello.
She has no idea she’s searching
For a face she’ll never know.
One day she’ll draw our family.
With careful hands and crayons bright.
She’ll pause before the final space…
And ask me who belongs on the right.
One day she’ll sing upon a stage.
Her eyes will scan from left to right.
Looking for the man whose voice
Should’ve echoed through the night.
One day she’ll scrape her little knee.
One day she’ll learn to ride.
One day she’ll win. One day she’ll lose.
And I’ll be there, on every side.
But there are moments love can’t borrow,
Places only fathers fill.
An empty chair at graduations.
A missing hug that’s missing still.
Sometimes she laughs exactly like you.
I wonder if somewhere in this world
You’d recognize yourself.
Not because she carries your name.
Not because she shares your blood.
But because she would’ve loved you
With the kind of love only a child does.
She would’ve reached for your hand
Without asking where you’d been.
She would’ve called you “Daddy”
As though you’d always been there.
Children don’t keep score.
They don’t remember missed phone calls.
They remember who showed up.
And one day, when she’s old enough,
She may stop asking where you are.
Not because the hurt is gone.
But because she finally learned
Not to wait for footsteps
The empty chair won’t belong to her anymore.
amandla
jacobvanloon
kianamaiart
gummygunk
andulkaphoto
titsay
