The speaker addresses a series of feelings as if they were people: love, hope, forgiveness, fear, a child, weakness. Each time, the speaker asks them to do something that seems backwards. Love is told not to help, hope not to cry, forgiveness not to falter, and fear not to leave. The reasons the speaker gives suggest deep guilt. They believe they deserve "the painful claws" and want to spare others from suffering alongside them.
The odd line is "My child, do not love me. / For nothing I have done." It reads as if the speaker feels unworthy of love, though the "child" could be literal or symbolic, and the poem doesn't say which.
The ending turns darker. Asking weakness to "consume me" feels like surrender, with the line "you have finally won" hinting at a long inner fight now given up. The mood is heavy, tender and self-punishing, a mix of love and despair.