"12. Mixed Emotions--Matthew Ward"
She gasped. Did the title mean what she thought it did? If so, he was likely to do some bleeding here...
Why do you run from me, child? / Why do you hide your heart? / Why is there always something keeping us apart? / Is there a fear inside you? / Darkness that clouds the mind / Making the simple truth of love too hard to find?
I've tried so hard to show you / There's nothing to read between the lines / But doubts and mixed emotions / Have let you pass me by
Still you go on without me / Living your life alone / Dull to my voice that's always there / To bring you home / You feel that truth's elusive / It must be hard to find / You search in vain for something just / To soothe your mind
...
If you would open to me / If you would call my name / If you would give to me your heart / So full of pain / I could begin to free you / Show you a perfect way / Melt every fear and doubt inside your heart away...
Bingo. Something bad had happened. A wall had come up between him and his little girl and he was taking it hard. Very hard. And not a single word about the Difference--nothing at all. If race had played any part in the bringing of his pain, it had only been to the extent that it was used--by her--to push him away. It was hard to keep from sobbing. How many other white fathers had suffered like this, watching the love of their very own children grow cold for shallow, political reasons that didn't even need to exist in the bright light of love given freely and abundantly?