My Babes and Myself

These three young lives held in my hand
From dawn till dark my attention demand.
Though I love them all that were born to me,
I too often feel not the mother they need.

My daughter, first born, was the child of a child
Though fears raged inside me, I outwardly smiled.
My mind, ready not, for a burden so great
Was screaming, demanding, 'why didn't you wait!?'

This innocent child, for her life, did not ask
And I'm sure, not at all, I can handle the task.
The hopes and the dreams I once held for myself
I'll package with care and put back on the shelf.

Time passes so quickly; her age just past one
When again I'm a mother; this time, it's a son.
Their father and I a life no longer share
Now alone, only I, for these children to care.

The job, shared by two, was more easy to cope
Alone now, I'm frightened; devoid of hope.
My babes need a man who'll be "daddy" to them
So it's, I, must determine to marry again.

Mistakes...I've made many, but none quite so great
As to wed, without love, for the children's sake.
He loved mine as much as his heart would allow,
But the birth of his own child has changed him somehow.

The man who is "daddy" no longer has time
To hold, or to play, with these children of mine.
Rejection and hurt, in their faces I read
But the man who is "daddy" is blind to their need.

Did I ask for too much? My demands...were they high?
Is it I who's to blame, when my little ones cry?
In my search for a "daddy", did my children lose me?
Was a "daddy" important to them, or to me?

My Jenny and Kenny so quickly have grown;
A few short years more, and they'll be on their own.
My baby turns seven, on June 23rd
And "daddy" in our house is only a word.