And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship." <br /> <br />Your friend is your needs answered. <br /> <br />He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. <br /> <br />And he is your board and your fireside. <br /> <br />For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace. <br /> <br />When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay." <br /> <br />And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; <br /> <br />For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. <br /> <br />When you part from your friend, you grieve not; <br /> <br />For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. <br /> <br />And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. <br /> <br />For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught. <br /> <br />And let your best be for your friend. <br /> <br />If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. <br /> <br />For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? <br /> <br />Seek him always with hours to live. <br /> <br />For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. <br /> <br />And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. <br /> <br />For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.<br /><br />Khalil Gibran<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/friendship-ixx/
