“I thought that prattling boys and girls
Would fill this empty room;
That my rich heart would gather flowers
From childhood's opening bloom.

One child and two green graves are mine,
This is God's gift to me;
A bleeding, fainting, broken heart—
This is my gift to Thee.”

On the death of her child (1852), reported in The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss (1882), p. 138.

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Elizabeth Prentiss11

American musician, hymnwriter 1818–1878

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