Friend of my earliest years and childish days, <br />My joys, my sorrows, thou with me hast shared, <br />Companion dear, and we alike have fared <br />(Poor pilgrims we) through life's unequal ways; <br />It were unwisely done, should we refuse <br />To cheer our path as featly as we may, <br />Our lonely path to cheer, as travellers use, <br />With merry song, quaint tale, or roundelay; <br />And we will sometimes talk past troubles o'er, <br />Of mercies shown, and all our sickness healed, <br />And in his judgments God remembering love; <br />And we will learn to praise God evermore <br />For those glad tidings of great joy revealed <br />By that sooth messenger sent from above.<br /><br />Charles Lamb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-to-a-friend/
