No One Told Me (Poem to my Daughter, Meghan)

No one told me
I couldn't hold you in my arms
No one told mehow long that pain would last
No one told me
how independent you would be
No one told me
resisting you would be impossible
No one told me
how much you would melt my heart
No one told me
how sleep would be a stranger
No one told me
how instantly you were at ease
No one told me
how your voice gently calms
No one told me
how feisty you could be

No one told me
how much you would teach me
No one told me
how much you would look like me
No one told me
how love for you would shake my world
No one told me
How hard it would be to leave you
No one told me


And even if they did,
Would I have been able to hear?