THE ARROW AND THE SONG

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not were;

For so swiftly it flew, the sight

Cound 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.

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A SISTER

By Christina Rossetti

For there is no friend like a sister

In calm or stormy weather;

To cheer one on the tedious way,

To fetch one if one goes astray,

To lift one if one totters down,

To strengthen whilst one stands.

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FRIENDSHIP

By Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

Oh, the comfort-the inexpressible comfort

of feeling safe with a person,

Having neither to weigh thoughts,

Nor measure words-but pouring them

All right out-just as they are-

Chaff and grain together-

Certain that a faithful hand will

Take and sift them-

Keep what is worth keeping-

And with the breath of kindness

Blow the rest away.

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THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE A FRIEND

By Author Unknown

The only way to have a friend

Is to be one yourself;

The only way to keep a friend

Is to give from that weath.

For friendship must be doublefold,

Each one must give his share

Of feelings true if he would reap

The blessings that are there.

If you would say, "He is my friend,"

Then nothing else will do

But you must say, "I am his friend,"

And prove that fact to be true.

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FRIENDSHIP

By Author Unknown

Friendship needs no studied phrases,

Polished face, or winning wiles;

Friendship deals no lavish praises,

Friendship dons no surface smiles.

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, strengthen, widens, lengthens,

Man's relationship with man.

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FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

He who has a thousand friends

Has not a friend to spare,

While he who has one enemy

Shall meet him everywhere.

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LOVE OF FRIENDS

By Author Unknown

Man strives for glory, honor, fame,

That all the world may know his name,

Amasses wealth by brain and hand;

Becomes a power in the land.

But when he nears the end of life

And looks back o'er the years of strife,

He finds that happiness depends

On none of these, but love of friends.

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TO A FRIEND

By William Lisle Bowles

Go, then, and join the murmuring city's throng!

Me thous dost leave to solitude and tears;

To busy fantasies, and boding fears,

Lest ill betide thee; but 't will not be long

Ere the hard season shall be past; till then

Live happy; sometimes the forsaken shade

Remembering, and these trees now left to fade;

Nor, mid the busy scenes and hum of men,

Wilt thou my cares forget: in heaviness

To me the hours shall roll, weary and slow,

Till mournful autumn past, and all the snow

Of winter pale, and glad hour I shall bless

That shall restore thee from the crowd again,

To the green hamlet on the peaceful plain.

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EARLY FRIENDSHIP

By Aubrey De Vere

The half-seen memories of childish days,

When pains and pleasures lightly came and went;

The sympathies of boyhood rashly spent

In fearful wand'rings through forbidden ways;

The vague, but manly wish to tread the maze

Of life to noble ends,-whereon intent,

Asking to know for what man here is sent,

The bravest heart must often pause, and gaze,-

The firm resolve to seek the chosen end

Of manhood's judgement, cautious and mature,-

Each of these viewless bonds binds friend to friend

With strength no selfish purpose can secure:

My happy lot is this, that all attend

The friendship which first came, and which shall

last endure.

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THE STIMULUS OF FRIENDSHIP

By Author Unknown

Because of our firm faith, I kept the track

whose sharp set stones my strength had almost spent-

I could not meet your eyes, if I turne back,

So on I went.

Because of your strong love, I held my path

When battered, worn and bleeding in the fight-

How could I meet your true eyes, blazing wrath?

so I kept right.

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THE ROYAL GUEST

By Julia Ward Howe

They tell me I am shrewd with other men;

With thee I'm slow, and difficult of speech.

With others I may guide the car of talk:

Thou wing'st it oft to realms beyond my reach.

If other guests should come, I'd deck my hair,

and cchoose my newest garment from the shelf;

When thou are bidden, I would clothe my heart

With holiest purpose, as for God himself.

For them I while the hours with tale or song,

Or web of fancy, fringed with careless rhyme;

But how to find a fitting lay for thee,

Who has the harmonies of every time!

O friend beloved! I sit apart and dumb,-

Sometimes in sorrow, oft in joy divine;

My lip will falter, but my prisoned heart

Springs forth to measure its faint pulse with thine.

Thou art to me most like a royal guest,

Whose travels bring him to some lowly roof,

Where simple rustics spread their festal fare

And, blushing, own it is not good enough.

Bethink thee, then, when'er thou com'st to me,

From high emprise and noble toil to rest,

My thoughts are weak and trivial, matched with thine;

But the poor mansion offers thee its best.

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AND DOTH NOT A MEETING LIKE THIS

By Thomas Moore

And doth not a meeting like this make amends

For all the long years I've been wand'ring away-

To see thus around me my youths early friends,

As  smiling and kind as in the happy day?

Though haply o'er some of your brows, as o'er mine,

The snowfall to Time may be stealing-what then?

Like Alps in the sunset, thus lighted by wine,

We'll wear the gay tinge of Youth's roses again.

What softened remembrances come o'er the heart,

In gazing on those we've been lost to so long!

The sorrows, the joys, of which once they were part,

Still round them, like visions of yesterday, throng;

As letters some hand hath invisibly traced,

When held to the flame will steal out on the sight.

So many a feeling, that long seemed effaced,

The warmth of a moment like this brings to light.

And thus, as in memory's bark we shall glide,

To visit the scenes of our boyhood anew,

Though oft we may see, looking down on the tide,

The wreck of full many a hope shining through;

Yet still, as in fancy we point to the flowers

That once made a garden of all the gay shore,

Deceived for a moment, we'll think them still ours,

And breathe the frest air of Life's morning once more.

So brief our existence, a glimpse, at the most,

Is all we can have of the few we hold dear;

And oft even joy is unheeded and lost

For want of some heart that could echo it, near.

Ah, well may we hope, when this short life is gone,

To meet in some world of more permanent bliss;

For a smile, or a grasp of the hand, hast'ning on,

Is all we enjoy of each other in this.

But, come, the more rare such delights to the heart,

The more we should welcome, and bless them the more;

They're ours, when we meet-they are lost when we part-

Like birds that bring Summer, and fly when 'tis o'er.

Thus circling the cup, hand in hand, ere we drink,

Let Sympathy pledge us, through pleasure, through pain,

That, fast as a feeling but touches one link,

Her magic shall send it direct through the chain.

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TO A FRIEND

By Grace Stricker Dawson

You entered my life in a casual way,

And saw at a glance what I needed;

There were others who passed me or met me each day,

But never a one of them heeded.

Perhaps you were thinking of other folks more,

Or chance simply seemed to decree it;

I know there were many such chances before,

But the others-well, they didn't see it.

You said just the thing that I wished you would say,

And you made me believe that you meant it;

I held up my head in the old gallant way,

And resolved you should never repent it.

There are times when encouragement means such a lot,

And a word in enough to convey it;

There were others who  could have, as easy as not-

but, just the same, they didn't  say it.

There may have been someone who could have done more

To help me along, though I doubt it;

What I needed was cheering, and always before

They had let me plod onward without it.

You helped to refashion the dream of my heart,

And made me turn eagerly to it;

There were others who might have (I question that part)-

But, after all, they didn't do it!

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NEW FRIENDS AND OLD FRIENDS

By Joseph Parry

Make new friends, but keep the old;

Those are silver, these are gold.

New-made friendships, like new wine,

Age will mellow the refine.

Friendships that have stood the test-

Time and change-are surely best;

Brow may wrinkle, hair grow gray;

Friendship never knows decay.

For 'mid old friends, tried and true,

Once more we our youth renew.

But old friends, alas! may die;

New friends must their place supply.

Cherish friendship in our breast-

New is good, but old is best;

Make new friends, but keep the old;

Those are silver, these are gold.

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THE MEETING OF THE SHIPS

By Felicia Hemans

"We take each other by the hand, and we exchange a
few words and looks of kindness, and we rejoice together for
a few short moments; and then days, months, years inter-
vene, and we see and know nothing of each other."
By-- Washington Irving

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Two barks met on the deep mid-sea,

When calms had stilled the tide;

A few bright days of summer glee

There found them side bye side.

And voices of the fair and brave

Rose mingling thence in mirth;

And sweetly floated o'er the wave

The melodies of earth.

Moonlight on that lone Indian main

Cloudless and lovely slept;

While dancing step and festive strain

Each deck in triumph swept.

And hands were linked, and answering eyes

With kindly meaning shone;

O, brief and passing sympathies,

Like leaves together blown!

A little while such joy was cast

Over th deep's repose,

Till the loud singing winds at last

Like trumpet music rose.

And proudly, freely on their way

The parting vessels bore;

In calm or storm, by rock or bay,

To meet-O, nevermore!

Never to blend in victory's cheer,

To aid in hours of woe;

And thus bright spirits mingle here,

Such ties are formed below.

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CONFIDE IN A FRIEND

By Author Unknown

When you're tired and worn at the close of day

And things just don't seem to be going your way,

When even your patience has come to an end,

Try taking time out and confide in a friend.

Perhaps she too may have walked the same road

With a much troubled heart and burdensome load,

To find peace and comfort somewhere near the end,

When she stopped long enough to confide in a friend.

For then are most welcome a few words of cheer,

For someone who willingly lends you an ear.

No troubles exist that time cannot mend,

But to get quick relief, just confide in a friend.

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MY FAMILIAR

By John Godfrey Saxe

Again I hear that creaking step!-

He's rapping at the door!-

Too well I know the boding sound

That ushers in  a bore.

I do not tremble when I meet

The stoutest of my foes,

But Heaven defend me from the friend

Who comes-but never goes!

He drops into my easy-chair,

And asks about the news;

He peers into my manuscript,

And gives his candid views;

He tells me where he likes the line,

And where he's forced to grieve;

He takes the strangest liberties,-

But never takes his leave!

He reads my daily paper through

Before I've seen a word;

He scans the lyric (that I wrote)

And thinks it quiet absurd;

He calmly smokes my last cigar,

And coolly asks for more;

He opens everything he sees-

Except the entry door!

He talks about his fragile health,

And tells me of the pains

He suffers from a score of ills

Of which he ne'er complains;

And how he struggled once with death

To keep the fiend at bay;

On themes like those away he goes,-

But never goes away!

He tells me of the carping words

Some shallow critic wrote;

And every precious paragraph

Familiarly can quote;

He thinks the writer did me wrong;

He'd like to run him through!

He says a thousand pleasant things,-

But never says, "Adieu!"

Whene'er he comes,-that dreadful man,-

Disguise it as I may,

I know that, like an Autumn rain,

he'll last throughout the day.

In vain I speak of urgent tasks;

In vain I scowl and pout;

A frown is no extinguisher,-

It does not  put him out!

I mean to take the knocker off,

Put crape upon the door,

Or hint to John that I am gone

To stay a month or more.

I do not tremble when I meet

The stoutest of my foes,

But Heaven defend me from the friend

Who never, never goes!

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A FRIEND

By Sir Thomas N. Talfourd

Tis a little thing

To give a cup of water; yet its draught

Of cool refreshment, drained by fevered lips,

May give a shock of pleasure to the frame

More exquisite than when nectarean juice

Renews the life of joy in happier hours.

It is a little thing to speak a phrase

Of common comfort which by daily use

Has almost lost its sense, yet on the ear

Of him who thought to die unmourned 'twill fall

Like choicest music, fill the glazing eye

With gentle tears, relax the knotted hand

To know the bonds of fellowship again;

A sense, to him who else were lonely,

That a friend is near and feels.

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I DREAM'D IN A DREAM

By Walt Whitman

I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks

of the whole of the rest of the earth,

I dream'd that was the new city of Friends,

Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love,

it led the rest,

It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,

And in all their looks and words.

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IF YOU BUT KNEW

By Author Unknown

If you but knew

How all my days seemed filled with dreams of you,

How sometimes in the silent night

Your eyes thrill through me with their tender light,

How oft I hear your voice when others speak,

How you 'mid other forms I seek-

Oh, love more real than though such dreams were true

If you but knew.

Could you but guess

How you alone make all my happiness,

How I am more than willing for your sake

To stand alone, give all and nothing take,

Nor chafe to think you bound while I am free,

Quite free, till death, to love you silently,

Could you but guess.

Could you but learn

How when you doubt my truth I sadly yearn

To tell you all, to stand for one brief space

Unfettered, soul to soul, as face to face,

To crown you king, my king, till life shall end,

My lover and likewise my truest friend,

Would you love me, dearest, as fondly in return,

Could you but learn?

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ANY WIFE OR HUSBAND

By Carol Haynes

Let us be guests in one another's house

With deferential "No" and courteous "Yes";

Let us take care to hide our foolish moods

Behind a certain show of cheerfulness.

Let us avoid all sullen silences;

We should find fresh and sprightly things to say;

I must be fearful lest you find me dull,

And you must dread to bore me any way.

Let us knock gently at each other's heart,

Glad of a chance to look within-and yet

Let us remember that to force one's way

Is the unpardoned breach of etiquette.

So shall I be hostess-you, the host-

Until all need for entertainment ends;

We shall be lovers when the last door shuts,

But what is better still-we shall be friends.

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A WARM AND FAITHFUL FRIEND

By John Quincy Adams

I want a warm and faithful friend,

To cheer the adverse hour;

Who ne'er to flatter will descend,

Not bend the knee to power.

A friend to chide me when I'm wrong,

My inmost soul to see;

And that my friendship prove as strong

To him as his to me.

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THE QUARREL OF FRIENDS

By Samuel Coleridge

Alas! they had been friends in youth:

But whispering tongues can poison truth;

And constancy lives in realms above;

And life is thorny; and youth is vain;

And to be wroth with one we love

Doth work like madness in the brain.

And thus it chanced, as I divine,

With Roland and Sir Leoline!

Each spoke words of high disdain

And insult to his heart's best brother;

They parted,-ne'er to meet again!

But never either found another

To free the hollow heart from paining.

They stood aloof, the scars remaining,

Like cliffs which had been rent asunder;

A dreary sea now flows between,

But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder

Shall wholly do away, I ween,

The marks of that which once hath been.

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FRIENDSHIP

By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Dear friend, I pray thee, if thous wouldst be proving

Thy strong regard for me,

Make me no vows. Lip service is not loving;

Let thy faith speak for thee.

Swear not to me that nothing can divide us-

So little such oaths mean.

But when distrust and envy creep beside us,

Let them not come between.

Say not to me the depths of thy devotion

Are deeper than the sea;

But watch, lest doubt or some unkind emotion

Embitter them for thee.

Vow not to love me ever and forever,

Words are such idle things;

But when we differ in opinions, never

Hurt me by little stings.

I'm sick of words:  they are so lightly spoken,

And spoken, are but air.

I'd rather feel thy trust in me unbroken

Than list thy words so fair.

If all the little proofs of trust be heeded,

If thous art always kind,

No sacrifice, no promise will be needed

To satisfy my mind.

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NIGHT AT SEA

By Lettitia Elizabeth Maclean

The lovely purple of the noon's bestowing

Has vanished from the waters, where it flung

A royal color, such as gems are throwing

Tyrian or regal garniture among.

'Tis night, and overhead the sky is gleaming,

Thro' the slight vapor trembles each dim star;

I turn away-my heart is sadly dreaming

Of scenes they do not light, of scenes afar.

my friends, my absent friends!

Do you think of me, as I think of you?

By each dark wave around the vessel sweeping

Farther am I from old dear friends removed;

Till the lone vigil that I now am keeping,

I did not know how much you were beloved.

How many acts of kindness little heeded,

Kind looks, kind words, rise half reproachful now!

Hurried and anxious, my vexed life has speeded,

And memory wears a soft accusing brow.

My firends, my absent friends!

Do you think of me, as I think of you?

The very stars are strangers, as I catch them

Athwart the shadowy sails that swell above;

I cannot hope that other eyes will watch them

At the same moment with a mutual love.

They shine not there, as here they now are shining;

The very hours are changed, -Ah, do ye sleep?

O'er each home pillow midnight is declining-

May some kind ream at least my image keep!

My friends, my absent friends!

Do you think of me, as I think of you?

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FRIENDS FAR AWAY

By Horace Twiss

Count not the hours while their silent wings

Thus waft them in fairy flight;

For feeling, warm from her dearest springs,

Shall hallow the scene tonight.

And while the music of joy is here,

And the colors of life are gay,

Let us think on those that have loved us dear,

The Friends who are far away.

Few are the hearts that have proved the truth

of their early affection's vow;

And let those few, the beloved of youth,

Be dear in their absence now.

O, vividly in their faithful breast

Shall the gleam of remembrance play.

Like the lingering light of the crimson west,

When the sunbeam hath passed away!

Soft be the sleep of their pleasant hours,

And calm be the seas they roam!

May the way they travel be strewed with flowers

Till it bring them in safety home!

And when we whose hearts are o'erflowing thus

Ourselves may be doomed to stray,

May some kind orison rise for us,

When we shall be far away!

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TO A DISTANT FRIEND

By William Wordsworth

Why art thou silent!   Is thy love a plant

Of such weak fiber that the treacherous air

Of absence withers what was once so fair?

Is there no debt to pay, no boon to grant?

Yet have my thoughts for thee been vigilant,

Bound to thy service with unceasing care-

The mind's least generous wish a mendicant

For nought but what thy happiness could spare.

Speak!- though this soft warm heart, once free to hold

A thousand tender pleasures, thine and mine,

Be left more desolate, more dreary cold

Than a forsaken bird's nest fill'd with snow

'Mid its own bush of leafless eglantine-

Speak, that my torturing doubts their end my know!

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A LEGACY

By John Greenleaf Whittier

Friend of my many years!

When the great silence falls, at last, on me,

Let me not leave, to pain and sadden thee,

A memory of tears,

But pleasant thoughts alone

Of one who was they friendship's honored guest

And drank the wine of consolation pressed

From sorrows of thy own.

I leave with thee a sense

Of hand upheld and trials rendered less-

The unselfish joy which is to helpfulness

Its own great recompense;

The knowledge that from thine,

As from the garments of the Master, stole

Calmness and strength, the virtue which makes whole

And heals without a sign;

Yea more, the assurance strong

That love, which fails of perfect utterance here,

Lives on to fill the heavenly atmosphere

With its immortal song.

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PARTED FRIENDS

By James Montgomery

Friend after friend departs:

Who hath not lost a friend?

There is no union here of hearts

That finds not here an end;

Were this frail world our only rest,

Living or dying, none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,

Beyond this vale of death,

There surely is some blessed clime

Where life is not a breath,

Nor life's affections transient fire,

Whose sparks fly upward to expire.

There is a world above,

Where parting in unknown;

A whole eternity of love,

Formed for the good alone;

And faith beholds the dying here

Translated to that happier sphere.

Thus star by star declines,

Till all are passed away,

As morning high and higher shines,

To pure and perfect day;

Nor sink those stars in empty night;

They hide themselves in heaven's own light.

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BENEDICITE

By John Greenleaf Whittier

God's love and peace be with thee, were

Soe'er this soft autumnal air

Lifts the dark tressed of thy hair!

Whether through city casements comes

Its kiss to thee, in crowded rooms,

Or, out among the woodland blooms,

It freshens o'er thy thoughtful face

Imparting, in its glad embrace,

Beauty to beauty, grace to grace!

Fair Nature's book together read,

The old wood paths that knew our tread,

The maple shadows overhead,-

The hills we climbed, the river seen

By gleams along its deep ravine,-

All keep thy memory fresh and green.

Where'er I look, where'er I stray,

Thy thought goes with me on my way,

And hence the prayer I breathe today:

O'er lapse of time and change of scene,

The weary waste which lies between

Thyself and me, my heart I lean.

Thou lack'st not Friendship's spellword, nor

The half-unconscious power to draw

All hearts to thine by Love's sweet law.

With these good gifts of God is cast

Thy lot, and many a charm thou hast

To hold the blessed angels fast.

If, then, a fervent wish for thee

The gracious heavens will heed from me,

What should, dear heart, its burden be?

The sighing of a shaken reed,-

What can I more than meekly plead

The greatness of our common need?

God's love,-unchanging, pure, and true,-

The Paraclete white-shining through

His peace,-the fall of Hermon's dew!

With such a prayer, on this sweet day,

As thou mayst hear and I may say,

I greet thee, dearest, far away!

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FAREWELL! BUT WHENEVER YOU
WELCOME THE HOUR

By Thomas Moore

Farewell!   but whenever you welcome the hour

That awakens the night song of mirth in your bower,

Then think of the friend who once welcomed it too,

And forgot his own griefs to be happy with you.

His griefs may return-not a hope may remain

Of the few that have brightened his pathway of pain-

But he ne'er will forget the short vision that threw

Its enchantment around him while lingering with you!

And still on that evening, when pleasure fills up

To the highest top-sparkle each heart and each cup,

Where'er my path lies, be it gloomy or bright,

My soul, happy friends! shall be with you that night-

Shall join in your revels, your sports, and your wiles,

And return to me beaming all o'er with your smiles;

Too blest if it tells me that, mid the gay cheer,

Some kind voice had murmured, "I wish he were here!"

Let Fate do her worst, there are relics of joy,

Bright dreams of the past, which she cannot destroy!

Which come in the night-time of sorrow and care,

And bring back the features that joy used to wear.

Long, long be my heart with such memories filled!

Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled;

You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will,

But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.

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CAPE-COTTAGE AT SUNSET

By W.B.Glazier

We stood, upon the ragged rocks,

When the long day was nearly done;

The waves had ceased their sullen shocks,

And lapped our feet with murmuring tone,

And o'er the bay in streaming locks

Blew the red tresses of the sun.

Along the West the golden bars

Still to a deeper glory grew;

Above our heads the faint, few stars

Looked out from the unfathomed blue;

And the fair city's clamorous jars

Seemed melted in that evening hue.

O sunset sky! O purple tide!

O friends to friends that closer pressed!

Those glories have in darkness died,

And ye have left my longing breast.

I could not keep you by my side,

Nor fix that radiance in the West.

Upon those rocks the waves shall beat

With the same low and murmuring strain;

Across those waves, with glancing feet,

The sunset rays shall seek the main;

But when together shall we meet

Upon that far-off shore again?

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WHEN TO THE SESSIONS OF SWEET
SILENT THOUGHT

By William Shakespeare

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste.

Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,

And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe,

And moan th' expense of many a vanished sight.

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,

Which I new pay, as if not paid before;

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored, and sorrows end.

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THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We sat within the farmhouse old,

Whose windows, looking o'er the bay,

Gave to the sea breeze, damp and cold,

An easy entrance, night the day.

Not far away we saw the port,-

The strange, old-fashioned, silent town,-

The lighthouse,-the dismantled fort,-

The wooden houses, quaint and brown.

We sat and talked until the night,

Descending, filled the little room;

Our faces faded from the sight-

Our voices only broke the gloom.

We spake of many a vanished scene,

Of what we once had thought and said,

Of what had been, and might have been,

And who was changed, and who was dead;

And all that fills the hearts of friends,

When first they feel, with secret pain,

Their lives thenceforth have separate ends,

And never can be one again;

The first slight swerving of the heart,

That words are powerless to express,

And leave it still unsaid in part,

Or say it in too great excess.

The very tones in which we spake

Had something strange, I could but mark;

The leaves of memory seemed to make

A mournful rustling in the dark.

Oft died the words upon our lips,

As suddenly, from out the fire

Built of the wreck of stranded ships,

The flames would leap and then expire.

And, as their splendor flashed and failed,

We thought of wrecks upon the main,-

Of ships dismasted, that were hailed

And sent no answer back again.

The windows, rattling  in their frames,-

The ocean, roaring up the beach,-

The gusty blast,-the bickering flames,-

All mingled vaguely in our speech;

Until they made themselves a part

Of fancies floating through the brain,-

The long-lost ventures of the heart,

That send no answers back again.

O flames that glowed! O hearts that yearned!

They were indeed too much akin-

The driftwood fire without that burned,

The thoughts that burned and glowed within.

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WE HAVE BEEN FRIENDS TOGETHER

By Caroline Norton

We have been friends together,

In sunshine and in shade;

Since first beneath the chestnut trees

In infancy we played.

But coldness dwells within thy heart-

A cloud is on thy brow;

We have been friends together-

Shall a light word part us now?

We have been gay together;

We have laughed at little jests;

For the fount of hope was gushing,

Warm and joyous, in our breasts.

But laughter now hath fled thy lip,

And sullen glooms thy brow;

We have been gay together-

Shall a light word part us now?

We have been sad together

We have wept, with bitter tears,

O'er the grass-grown graves, where slumbered

The hopes of early years.

The voices which are silent there

Would bid thee clear thy brow;

We have been sad together-

O! what shall part us now?

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By Hartley Coleridge

When we were idlers with the loitering rills,

The need of human love we little noted:

Our love was nature; and the peace that floated

On the white mist, and dwelt upon the hills,

To sweet accord subdued our wayward wills:

One soul was ours, one mind, one heart devoted,

That, wisely doting, asked not why it doted,

And ours the unknown joy, which knowing kills.

But now I rind how dear thou wert to me;

That man is more than half of nature's treasure,

Of that fair beauty which no eye can see,

Of that sweet music which no ear can measure;

And now the streams may sing for others' pleasure,

The hills sleep on in their eternity.

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THE LiGHT OF OTHER DAYS

By Thomas Hood

Oft in the stilly night

Ere slumber's chain has bound me,

Fond Memory brings the light

Of other days around me:

The smiles, the tears

Of boyhood's years,

The words of love then spoken;

The eyes that shone,

Now dimm'd and gone,

The cheerfill hearts now broken!

Thus in the stilly night

Ere slumber's chain has bound me,

Sad Memory brings the light

Of other days around me.

When I remember all

The friends so link'd together

I've seen around me fall

Like leaves in wintry weather,

I feel like one Who treads alone

Some banquet hall deserted,

Whose lights are fled

Whose garlands dead,

And all but he departed!

Thus in the stilly night

Ere slumber's chain has bound me,

Sad Memory brings the light

Of other days around me.

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THE PASSAGE

By Ludwig Uhland

Many a year is in its grave,
Since I crossed the restless wave;
And the evening, fair as ever,
Shines on ruin, rock, and river.

Then in this same boat beside
Sat t'vo comrades old and tried-
One with all a father's truth,
One with all the fire of youth.

One on earth in silence wrought,
And his grave in silence sought;
But the younger, brighter form
Passed in battle and in storm.

So, whene'er I turn my eye
Back upon the days gone by,
Saddening thoughts of friends come o'er me,
Friends that closed their course before me.

But what binds us, friend to friend,
But that soul with soul can blend?
Soul-like were those hours of yore;
Let us walk in soul once more.

Take, 0 boatman, thrice thy fee,-
Take, I give it willingly;
For, invisible to thee,
Spirits twain have crossed with me.

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THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES

By Charles Lamb

I have had playmates, I have had companions
In my days of childhood, in my joyfal school-days;
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

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By Alfred Tennyson

The path by which we twain did go,
Which led by tracts that pleased us well,
Through four sweet years arose and fell,
From flower to flower, from snow to snow.

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By Fitz-Greene Halleck

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By Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days O' lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup O' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae rin about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine;
But we've wandered monie a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl't i' the 'burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin' auld lang syne.

And here's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand O' thine;
And we'll tak a right guid willie-waught
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

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SALAAM ALAIKUM

(Peace Be With You)

   By Author Unknown

I pray the prayer the Easterners do,
May the peace of Allah abide with you.
Wherever you stay, wherever you go,
May the beautiful palms of Allah grow.
Through days of labor and nights of rest,
The love of good Allah make thee blest.
So I touch my heart as the Easterners do,
May the peace of Allah abide with you.

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Late Updated: 11/11/98 11:29:34 PM -0500