Learning to Read

I read through your letters,
And they spoke to me with a smile.
I searched you behind the letters,
You disappeared again behind them with a smile!

I read them again through their bends and curves,
With a loud voice and in a hush,
Stumbled over every syllable and vowel,
And they sounded like your smile and song!

I held your hands close to my chest,
As they wrote legibly on these cards,
And you breathed your breath in them,
That they speak to their beloved with love.

Hiding your smile you wrote in silence,
All those words that I pronounced any wrong,
Like 'things' 'thank you' and 'an apple'
The a's, t's, p's and v's
And you stooped down to kiss,
My cheek for every word,
I corrected in style.

You are my teacher for you know to correct,
And you know to correct,
'Cause you know to love,
And breathe the illegible letters to life.