ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP

Just some thoughts:

 was killing some time on this small college campus in rural Tennessee waiting for the start of a basketball game. With some extra time on my hands I ventured over to the small college library. I found myself wandering through the stacks and came upon a few books of poetry. Pulling a couple books from the shelves, I sat down and found this poem. I scrambled for some paper and wrote down the words. I could not find the name of the author, but I thought it said volumes about friends.

                                                                “Eternal Friendships” 
 
                                                        No friend we love can ever die;
                                                      The outward form but disappears.
                                                      I know that all my friends are nigh
                                                         Whenever I am moved to tears,
                                                 And when my strength and hope are gone,
                                                    The friends, no more, that once I knew 
                                                        Return to cheer and urge me on
                                                         Just as they always used to do
                                                       They whisper to me in the dark
                                                    Kind words of counsel and of cheer;
                                                    When hope has flickered to a spark
                                                          I feel their gentle spirits near,
                                                       And Oh, because of them I strive
                                                     With all the strength that I can call
                                                      To keep their friendship still alive
                                                          And to be worthy of them all.
                                                    Death does not end our friendship true;
                                                          We all are debtors to the dead;
                                                          There, wait on everything we do
                                                    The splendid souls who’ve gone ahead.
                                                       To them I hold that we are bound
                                                            By double pledges to be fine,
                                                      Who once has had a friend has found
                                                      The link between mortal and divine.

 ​I have since forgotten much about that game, but these words seem to stay with me.
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  February 3, 2014
  Keep on,
​  Larry Adamson