The First to Teach My Heart

You did not come with instructions,

No map was in your hand,

You were a new, breathtaking country,

I had to learn to understand.

You were the first to teach me,

A love that has no "end,"

The first to call me "Mother,"

My dearest, truest friend.

The first to break my sleep in two,

Then mend it with a sigh,

The first to make a simple grin,

Feel like the sunlit sky.

The first to make my worries,

Seem trivial and small,

The first to make my courage grow,

Ten times more fierce and tall.

You were the first to show me,

My capacity to care,

The first to teach me patience,

The first to teach me prayer.

You are the one who built my heart,

Into a stronger home,

The one who taught this soul of mine,

It was no more alone.

And if more blessings follow you,

As I both hope and pray,

They'll walk a path you blazed for them,

Upon this brand-new day.

For you, my first, my precious one,

Will always have the key,

To the heart you built and opened up,

And gave the world to me.