Based on the poem by Grace Nichols

Praise Song for my Mother

You are my strongest memory. People think its Peggy or Bucky or the commandos but it is you. I knew you the longest, from the very beginning. You were the first person I ever met, the first one I spoke to.

You were the one who taught me to read and write and count. You made sure I went to school whenever I could and helped me when I was too sick. You gave me knowledge of the world around me.

Then you taught me to draw. You showed me how to hold a pencil or sometime a piece of charcoal and how to make shapes on the paper. You let me know how to express the thoughts in my heart as an image.

You told me how important it was to remember those who had gone before us, you told me all about dad. You made sure I knew what he looked like by drawing him every single day. I can only ever thank you for that.

You were my idol, my inspiration. You showed me how to dream and how to work towards what I wanted. Each time I got sick you reminded me that I could better, that I could beat anything that came up.

You showed me that I could be whatever I wanted me and always told me to reach for the stars. You never told me I was too skinny, too frail.

Everything I knew was based on you; you made our apartment our home. You made those dark nights a little bit brighter. You influenced my every move, my every thought. My day revolved around you and showing you how thankful I was for everything you did to me.

When I was scared you watched over me, keeping me safe from harm and making sure that my life was as stable as it could be.

You made sure that day always followed night, that summer always followed winter.

You were my sun, the warmth of my life. You kept my spirits up and a smile on my face. You lifted the room until everybody around you was feeling that little bit happier.

Some days you wouldn't be home until the early hours, you had to work any shift you could. Just you smiling and tucking me in at night would make all the morning after bad nights, ones full of coughing and fevers, you would great me with a smile a thousand times warmer than any sun.

It was you who brought me up, who helped me grow from babe to boy to man.

You sustained me, you kept a roof over my head and food on my plate. Even if you had to go hungry yourself, you would keep me fed.

You were the one to keep me alive, to keep my head held high when others' were dropping. No matter how difficult things got you kept us going, kept our spirits up.

Life was always better when you were around, when you were here. You sacrificed so much for me, tried to make the world better for me.

I can't quite figure out what to do now, I don't know how this works. I keep expecting to hear you coming home after a long shift and saying goodnight to me.

It's stupid, I remember your funeral, I laid down flowers. I didn't cry until I was back in my room, Bucky was the only one to ever see me.

I draw you every morning, as soon as I can after I wake up, and have down since you didn't wake up. I have hundreds of small sketches of you in my portfolio, sometimes you're dressed up all pretty and other times you just look normal, swell.

If I'm having a very bad day I draw you with dad, a full scene maybe a picnic in the park on a summer afternoon.

I remember you, I couldn't ever forget. You were my everything. You were my mum.