Poems On Friendship
To Be A Friend...
Guard within yourself that treasure, kindness.
Know how to give without hesitation,
how to lose without regret,
how to acquire without meanness.
Know how to replace in your heart,
by the happiness of those you love,
the happiness that may be wanting to yourself.
- George Sand (1804-1876)
The Arrow And The Song
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
A Temple To Friendship
"A temple to Friendship," cried Laura, enchanted,
"I'll build in this garden; the thought is divine.:
So the temple was built, and she now only wanted
An image of Friendship, to place on the shrine.
So she flew to the sculptor, who sat down before her
An image, the fairest his art could invent;
But so cold, and so dull, that the youthful adorer
Saw plainly this was not the Friendship she meant.
"O, never," said she, "could I think of enshrining
An image whose looks are so joyless and dim;
But yon little god upon roses reclining,
We'll make, if you please, sir, a Friendship of him."
So the bargain was struck; with the little god laden,
She joyfully flew to her home in the grove.
"Farewell," said the sculptor, "you're not the first maiden
Who came but for Friendship, and took away Love!"
- Thomas Moore (1770-1852)
Friendship
Friendship needs no studied phrases,
Polished face, or winning wiles;
Friendship deals no lavish praises,
Friendship dons no surface smile.
Friendship follows Nature's diction,
Shuns the blandishments of Art,
Boldly severs truth from fiction,
Speaks the language of the heart.
Friendship favors no condition,
Scorns a narrow-minded creed,
Lovingly fulfills its mission,
Be it word or be it deed.
Friendship cheers the faint and weary,
Makes the timid spirit brave,
Warns the erring, lights the dreary,
Smooths the passage to the grave.
Friendship - pure, unselfish friendship,
All through life's allotted span,
Nurtures, strengthens, widens, lengthens,
Man's relationship with man.
- Anonymous
A True Friend
Is one who understands where you have been,
accepts who you have become
and loves you unconditionally as you are.
He does not wish you `luck' as you step out into the unknown...
he walks into the void by your side.
He will not offer distractions
nor easy advice in your time of need...
instead he will pray for wisdom, born of compassion,
and a willingness to take your pain upon himself.
Such a friend will always speak of you when you are not present,
as though you were,
and though he may not always share your sunny days,
he will always be there to help you through the stormy ones.
He is not skeptical of your blooming,
nor jealous of your shining apart from him,
for he seeks not to steal your joy,
but to multiply it.
It has been well said that there is no greater love than this...
for a true friend does not take life from you,
he gives you his own.
- Gail Copeland
Friendships
Friends,
if we can compare
are like angels.
Even when you can't see them,
They are there
And when you seem to need them
most to care,
They become even closer friends.
And to this our sorrow ends
Where angelic love begins.
- Spiritual Silhouettes