Only If You Knew, Dad?

Dad,
why won't you listen to me. Please hear my silent plea,
you so often ignore. Why can't you see my pain?
Just once, I wish you'd say;
I love you, simply because you are you.
Why can't you admire my compassion? My soul?
That you don't even know, yet cries out for recognition.
Why have you never heard my plea? A plea to understand who I am.
Grew up believing,
everything you did was right. I tried so hard to please you.
Yet I always fell somehow short of your expectations.
Why did I fail to win your love? Why have you never heard me cry?
Why have you never listened to me? You have heard my words,
but you never understood what I was trying to say.