Francie.

I loved a child as we should love     Each other everywhere;     I cared more for his happiness     Than I dreaded my own despair.     An angel asked me to give him     My whole life's dearest cost;     And in adding mine to his treasures     I knew they could never be lost.     To his heart I gave the gold,     Though little my own had known;     To his eyes what tenderness     From youth in mine had grown!     I gave him all my buoyant     Hope for my future years;     I gave him whatever melody     My voice had steeped in tears.     Upon the shore of darkness     His drifted body lies.     He is dead, and I stand beside him,     With his beauty in my eyes.     I am like those withered petals     We see on a winter day,     That gladly gave their color     In the happy summer away.     I am glad I lavished my worthiest     To fashion his greater worth;     Since he will live in heaven,     I shall lie content in the earth.