Thy dear brown eyes which were as depths where truth

Lay bowered with frolic joy, but yesterday

Shone with the fire of thy so guileless youth,

Now ruthless death has dimmed and closed for aye.

Those sweet red lips, that never knew the stain

Of angry words or harsh, or thoughts unclean,

Have sung their last gay song. Never again

Shall I the harvest of their laughter glean.

The goodly harvest of thy laughing mouth

Is garnered in; and lo! the golden grain

Of all thy generous thoughts, which knew no drouth

Of meanness, and thy tender words remain

Stored in my heart; and though I may not see

Thy peerless form nor hear thy voice again,

The memory lives of what thou wast to me,

We knew great love.... We have not lived in vain.