VII.
FRIENDSHIP.
(TO G. M.)
They tell me friendship is a name,
A flickering wildfire o'er life's troublous Ocean;
They say it lights no keen abiding flame,
It stirs in our cold hearts no deep emotion.
They say that love alone was given,
The appointed solace of our earthly lot,
That love which finds no counterpart in heaven,
Which hath no place where passion's fire is not.
Highest they prize that wedded love,
Which He, the Love beyond all loves, forswore,
Albeit the virgin-seer had power to move
The heart of Jesus in His darkest hour.
Deem we their verdict true indeed?
Is there no love from earthly passion free,
No gift to human sympathy decreed
But mars the grace of heavenly purity?
Mother of mercy, thou canst tell!
“Purer than foam on central Ocean tost,”
Thou, who for three long hours didst prove full well
The sinless pangs which sin's redemption cost.
And he, the angel-faced Saint John,
Whose virgin lips to our dear Lord's were prest,
Was that no love, which o'er his spirit shone
Bright through the vision of a world's unrest?
Deep, deep, unfathomably deep,
Glitters the corals pure and stainless red,
The while above the unsleeping waters keep
Their stern espial o'er its Ocean bed.
The burnished coral's ruddy hue,
What speaks it but affection's ardent glow?
Why gleams it thus deep hidden from our view,
Why but affection's purity to show?
Then deem not friendship all untrue,
Nor love which is not sexual love a name;
No earth-born cloud but mars the heavens' clear blue,
The purest, sure, burns aye the brightest flame.
The brightest flame, nor all unsweet
That soothing balm to pilgrim spirits given;
When hearts with hearts in perfect friendship meet,
Is there a holier bond on this side heaven?
Say I indeed on this side heaven?
Nay, friendship fleets not with the fleeting breath;
What though the chains of time and sense be riven,
Love springs triumphant from the grasp of death.
Dearest! be ours such blessed lot,
For His sweet sake on Mary's lap who lay,
So may our kindred sprights unprisoned float
Through changeless orbs of never-setting day!
