Poems (Greenwell)/To a Friend
For works with similar titles, see To a Friend.
TO A FRIEND.
Oh, call me but thy Friend!
Seek thou no other word when thou wouldst pour
Thy soul in mine; for this unto the core
Of Love doth pierce, and in it comprehend
All secrets of its lore!
Seek thou no other word when thou wouldst pour
Thy soul in mine; for this unto the core
Of Love doth pierce, and in it comprehend
All secrets of its lore!
Yet thou dost move within
A Tropic sphere of soul, and all too weak
For thy full-hearted utterance; worn too thin
By daily usage seem the words we speak.
Too oft misprizing them; so thou dost hold
This current coin of ours for base, and choose
From thine own wealth new moulds, wherein to fuse
Thy virgin, unsunned gold!
A Tropic sphere of soul, and all too weak
For thy full-hearted utterance; worn too thin
By daily usage seem the words we speak.
Too oft misprizing them; so thou dost hold
This current coin of ours for base, and choose
From thine own wealth new moulds, wherein to fuse
Thy virgin, unsunned gold!
So let thy choice be free!
Our spirits thus by divers laws are bound:
One may not judge the other, but from me
Seek thou no other token! for its sound
Hath been to me for music; bringing round
Kind eyes that looked on me, kind hands I found
Outstretched to help me over pathways drear;
And some of these are far, and some are near,
And some are in the Heavens, but all are dear
In God, who gave them to me; so this "Friend"
Is like a full-stringed chord, that still doth seem
Within its sound to gather up and blend
All, all that life in other lives that takes
Away Life's curse of barrenness, and makes
Our Being's sweet and often-troubled dream!
Our spirits thus by divers laws are bound:
One may not judge the other, but from me
Seek thou no other token! for its sound
Hath been to me for music; bringing round
Kind eyes that looked on me, kind hands I found
Outstretched to help me over pathways drear;
And some of these are far, and some are near,
And some are in the Heavens, but all are dear
In God, who gave them to me; so this "Friend"
Is like a full-stringed chord, that still doth seem
Within its sound to gather up and blend
All, all that life in other lives that takes
Away Life's curse of barrenness, and makes
Our Being's sweet and often-troubled dream!
I never used it lightly; unto me
A sacredness hung round it; for a Sign
I held it of our common words that be
Initial letters of a speech divine:
Oh, take this coin, too oft to worthless ends
Profaned, and see upon its circlet shine
One Image fair—one Legend never dim;
And Whose but Caesar's? for this word by Him
Was used at parting, "I have called you Friends."
A sacredness hung round it; for a Sign
I held it of our common words that be
Initial letters of a speech divine:
Oh, take this coin, too oft to worthless ends
Profaned, and see upon its circlet shine
One Image fair—one Legend never dim;
And Whose but Caesar's? for this word by Him
Was used at parting, "I have called you Friends."