I Should Not Love You

I raised you as my daughter.
I love you as if you are my own flesh and blood.
I held you when you cried.
I brushed away your tears.
I picked you up when you fell.
I taught you how to be a strong woman.
I taught you how to take care of yourself.
From me, you learned sarcasm and satire.
You are my daughter.
I am your father.

All this is true.
Even as I love you as your father....There is more.
I know not how or when or even why.
But I love you more than your father should.
Though I be damned for all eternity, I also love you as a woman.
This is my greatest pain.
I should not love you as I do.
Not as a man loves a woman.
But I do.

I must make myself love you only as your father.
Every time you are with another man, I become jealous.
A father should not be jealous.
I am your father.
You are my daughter.

I should not love you, as I do.

The pain is too great.