SHE gathered at her slender waist <br />The beauteous robe she wore; <br />Its folds a golden belt embraced, <br />One rose-hued gem it bore. <br /> <br />The girdle shrank; its lessening round <br />Still kept the shining gem, <br />But now her flowing locks it bound, <br />A lustrous diadem. <br /> <br />And narrower still the circlet grew; <br />Behold! a glittering band, <br />Its roseate diamond set anew, <br />Her neck's white column spanned. <br /> <br />Suns rise and set; the straining clasp <br />The shortened links resist, <br />Yet flashes in a bracelet's grasp <br />The diamond, on her wrist. <br /> <br />At length, the round of changes past <br />The thieving years could bring, <br />The jewel, glittering to the last, <br />Still sparkles in a ring. <br /> <br />So, link by link, our friendships part, <br />So loosen, break, and fall, <br />A narrowing zone; the loving heart <br />Lives changeless through them all.<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-girdle-of-friendship/
