If I Can't Use You

If I can't use you, then what use are you to me?
your eyes screamed at me across the yawning
chasm that was the uncomfortable courtroom

There was no love in that glance
There was no hope in that glance
There was no empathy,
sympathy
or anything resembling
human emotional connection,
logic
or rationality

You had become a cold reptile
Using your daughter as a pawn
in a legal battle for financial gain
No one wins
in a battle of
broken homes and
shattered futures on welfare

If I can't use you, then you might as well be dead
your quasi-legalese screamed at me through my
mailbox on a monthly basis from Bitter Ex Ville

There was no remorse in those words
There was no feeling in those words
There was nothing resembling
anything approaching
an olive branch of truce
in a stilted rejection letter
from the ambulance chaser

You have become a caricature
Nothing in your personality
makes my heart skip a beat
whereas not many years ago,
I would have gladly pole-vaulted
over burning forests
just to hold you close
on a windy winter's night

If I can't use you, then what's the use in trying?
your sigh screamed at my as you scurried past
as I held the door open like the gentleman I am

One day you will be bitch-slapped awake
It will not be by me because I no longer care
One day you will lay down your selfish ways
I will not be there to notice changes overdue
One day you will place your daughter above all

I will
be there
for her, always
Not because you cannot muster the effort,
but because daughter's need their fathers
Especially when their mothers have failed
Failed to acknowledge
that this is a person
who only requires love
Love you are too selfish to provide

Realize this:
You have lost what you never had
Having it would have saved you
I have the tools to save you
But what would be the use?