How Could I Poem by Melissa Joy Chesky

Daddy
how could I make this up?
how could I make these non-existent wounds seep with puss?
how could I make my own psyche so mottled?
how could I cry if it isn’t true?
how could I feel so much pain, the pain you claim I fathomed?
how could I, daddy?
how?
why can’t you believe what you’ve seen?
aren’t I your little girl?
how could I make up such an accusation?
how, daddy?
how could I not think your “love” is a fraud?
how could I trust you again?
how, daddy?
but most importantly:
how could you believe them?