There’s a chair you’ll never notice,

Though I see it every day.

It sits beside her tiny dreams

The place where you should’ve stayed.

She doesn’t know she’s missing you.

Not yet. She’s still too small.

She thinks the world is made of love,

And that someone comes when children call.

She waves at every passerby.

She laughs when someone says hello.

She has no idea she’s searching

For a face she’ll never know.

One day she’ll draw our family.

With careful hands and crayons bright.

She’ll pause before the final space…

And ask me who belongs on the right.

One day she’ll sing upon a stage.

Her eyes will scan from left to right.

Looking for the man whose voice

Should’ve echoed through the night.

One day she’ll scrape her little knee.

One day she’ll learn to ride.

One day she’ll win. One day she’ll lose.

And I’ll be there, on every side.

But there are moments love can’t borrow,

Places only fathers fill.

An empty chair at graduations.

A missing hug that’s missing still.

She has your smile.

She has your eyes.

Sometimes she laughs exactly like you.

And every time she does…

I wonder if somewhere in this world

You’d recognize yourself.

Not because she carries your name.

Not because she shares your blood.

But because she would’ve loved you

With the kind of love only a child does.

She would’ve reached for your hand

Without asking where you’d been.

She would’ve called you “Daddy”

As though you’d always been there.

Children don’t keep score.

They don’t remember missed phone calls.

They remember who showed up.

And one day, when she’s old enough,

She may stop asking where you are.

Not because the hurt is gone.

But because she finally learned

Not to wait for footsteps

That never came.

When that day comes,

The empty chair won’t belong to her anymore.