Lucina31's "Dad" sets two ideas of fatherhood side by side. The first half gives the familiar picture: a hero, a protector, someone who chases away monsters, picks you up when you fall, and plays ball with you. Then the poem turns on the word "But," and the speaker describes the father she actually knew. He forgets to call, vanishes for years, breaks his promises, and, most painfully, chooses to raise someone else's child instead of his own.
The speaker's feelings shift from disappointment to grief and finally to something hard and bitter. "Someone I used to love" is the quiet heart of the poem, because it admits how much was lost. The happy family now exists only as a "far off dream," and even that dream has to push aside the "sleepless nights and the drugs." The mood is sad and raw, and the plain, blunt wording makes the final line land like a verdict: a father, to her, is someone who leaves others to pick up the pieces.