They call me mother of all
They say I am the first woman
And so I am…

The first to be treated as though
I am just a part and not the whole.

The first to hear, This is all your fault.
The first to stay faithful to my husband
Though he blamed me for his mistakes
Though we wandered in exile.

The first to rise from childbirth
To help my husband in the fields.

The first to bury a son killed by his brother.

The first to have her heart broken
Not once
But again and again
And still go on
Loving
Even so.