It’s true what they say about mothers,
they truly are the light in our darkness.
When in their arms we forget our bothers,
and in truth they hesitate at our sadness.
 
My first glance,
her eyes: sparkling with the beautiful future she envisioned for me.
My first cry,
Hushed only be the familiar warmth of her embrace; a shield, oh so mighty.

My first day of school,
Her hand firmly radiating strength into mine.
My first goodbye,
Her planted smile, hiding so much more than she could decline.
 
My very first test,
The shining ‘A’ left null in the face of her pride.
And my first fall,
A little scraped knee… her heart right beside. 

Fifth-grade graduation,
A hat high in the air, reminiscing the freedom she laid out.
That teenage heartbreak,
Her voice, reassembling my broken pieces, with her soldiers of love thereout.
 
Then came my first step into adulthood,
Her feet planted firm in the soil of support;
Stood tall every step of the way;
and wilfully came along… my very own escort.

But halted was our journey,
When I saw you leave me.
You told me to fend for myself;
And if need be… fetch my own gurney.

It felt alone, it felt dark;
Me, a completed but abandoned painting,
left with nothing of yours… but that watermark.
 
Oh mom,
Oblivious was I that, it wasn’t you who stepped away.
Ironically, it was my desperate need for your love,
That made me push against the person, for whom I still pray.

Your sacrifices finally showed themselves,
When I first saw my strands of grey;
You helped me learn, mom;
not lead me astray.
 
As I look at my life now, with a purpose who’s only five years old;
I see myself ready to pounce, to protect… and to hold.
 
And when she looks at me with awe in her twinkling eyes;
If only she knew that my strength is yours... a stolen prize.