 | [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet |  |
134
FRIENDSHIP
“What is friendship but a name?”
'Tis but a name—a poet's dream,
A shadowy form to fancy nigh,
But faithless as the meteor's gleam,
Flung o'er a dark and scowling sky.
Yet, Friendship! there is in thy name
A mystic charm—our dreams of thee
Are all too bright, too pure to claim
A kindred with reality.
A shadowy form to fancy nigh,
But faithless as the meteor's gleam,
Flung o'er a dark and scowling sky.
Yet, Friendship! there is in thy name
A mystic charm—our dreams of thee
Are all too bright, too pure to claim
A kindred with reality.
[OMITTED]
Alas, for life! it ne'er can know
So much of pure and heavenly bliss,
And Friendship's high and sacred glow,
Must fade before man's selfishness!
A word can burst the strongest tie
That friendship twines around her heart,
One haughty look, one cold reply,
Can bid its brightest dreams depart.
So much of pure and heavenly bliss,
And Friendship's high and sacred glow,
Must fade before man's selfishness!
A word can burst the strongest tie
That friendship twines around her heart,
One haughty look, one cold reply,
Can bid its brightest dreams depart.
Stanzas 1 and 7 Haverhill Gazette, June 9, 1827
| [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet | |