Where Have All The Daddies Gone?

Where Have All The Daddies Gone

Written and © by Chick Velasco
To email the Author, click here
10/4/99
*Used With Permission*

[Note from the Author]

This is a poem written by me about what I did when I was young and foolish. The problem is, my foolishness affected other peoples lives, mostly my children, and there are things I can never change or undo or go back to and get a second try. As painful as it was to write this poem, I felt it was necessary. We must stand responsible for our actions. This world we live in today says otherwise, but there are consequences, even after our sin has been forgiven there are things we cannot undo. When I stand before my Savior I will have no excuse for what I have done.
If He asks me why...............I have no answer for Him.

If you listen quietly
You can hear the babies cry
Their Daddies have all moved away
And no one's told them why

Just because they are so small
We think they do not know
What it is we've done to them
When we decide to go

That's a lie we tell ourselves
To make ourselves believe
That it really doesn't matter
When we decide to leave

Not only does it matter
Hear me when I say
They don't need us just on weekends
They need us every day

As I sit and write these words
I can't describe the pain
As I recall the things I did
I relive it once again

I cannot even see the page
My eyes so full of tears
Still I cannot cry them dry
After all these years

I love my sons so very much
But I did not put them first
I was just so selfish
That I behaved my worst

I left them with their Mommies
I left them all alone
I saw them on the weekends
And sometimes on the phone

Why did I leave my sons behind
Did I think I could be free
If I blamed it on their mothers
When the fault belonged to me

Listen when I tell you
These words I speak are true
There's no freedom in the prison
That your acts create for you

The day will come when you will see
What you have done so wrong
You'll know your babies didn't get
What they needed all along

You'll realize that it's your fault
And there's nothing you can do
You will not get a second chance
To see your babies through

Before you know it they are grown
And their choices aren't so good
Because their Daddy didn't teach them
All the things he should

Oh, they will always love you
But that just makes it worse
For in your heart you'll always know
You've given them a curse

And in your heart you'll always know
That love is not enough
You need to teach them every day
And do the "Daddy" stuff

They need you there to laugh with them
To hold them when they cry
To hug them and to kiss them
And be the apple of your eye

I often wonder what went on
Inside their little heart
When I packed up and went away
And ripped their lives apart

If you leave your babies
That's exactly what you do
Then one day you realize
Just what you've put them through

Then every time you see a child
Your heart will start to swell
You'll remember what you've done
It's your little piece of hell

There'll be nothing you can do
To satisfy the guilt
It's like a dagger in your heart
That's buried to the hilt

Every time you see a Daddy
Doing what is right
You will know that you have failed
And you can never make it right

Every night when you lie down
You'll hear your babies cry
You'll taste the salty teardrops
That trickle from your eye

You'll ask the Lord for mercy
And He'll forgive you too
He'll wrap His arms around you
And He will help you through

Still you have to face the sunrise
Each and every day
Always knowing in your heart
It was you who walked away

My Father up in heaven
Has forgiven me that sin
But I cannot leave this prison
That I am living in

I can only promise
To be here every day
So when my children call on me
They'll know I'm back to stay

Even then the pain persists
It never goes away
I'm shackled in this prison
I live in every day

I have no one I can blame
The fault is only mine
I'm the one who made the choice
To leave my sons behind

So many other Daddies
Have done the same as I
And if they listen quietly
They can hear their babies cry

They can hear them crying
No matter where they roam
Yet all those tears would turn to joy
If Daddy would come home

I heard another baby cry
Just the other day
She told me that her Daddy
Had packed and moved away

I went off by myself and cried
Knowing I'm the one
I caused this problem long ago
...............Her Daddy is my son

That's why this is a prison
I am living in
Because my former selfishness
Has hurt someone again

Even though the years have passed
And I have changed my ways
I cannot reverse the damage
Of my younger days

So in this prison I will stay
Until my days are through
Always wishing I could change
What I cannot undo

If you are a Daddy
Do not move away
They need you more than weekends
They need you every day

Every day that you are gone
Is a day you cant retrieve
And it soon creates a prison
That you can never leave

If I could do it all again
I would not move away
I'd spend some time with all my kids
Each and every day.