Poetry Page 3
Friends and Lovers
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No turning back

 

Love

Too Late

 

Atonement

Friendship

 

The Friend Who Just Stands By

If I Had Known

 

Husband & Wife

To a Friend

 

Together 

Fellowship

 

The Human Touch 


No turning back, no turning back

The moving finger writes and, having writ,
Moves on.
Nor all thy piety nor wit,
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out one word of it.
from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam

 

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.
Whatever you sow, that you will also reap.

For he who sows to his flesh
Will of the flesh reap corruption,
But he who sows to the Spirit
Will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Galatians 6.7-8

Friendship

Oh, the comfort -- the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words -- but pouring them
All right out -- just as they are --
Chaff and grain together --
Certain that a faithful hand will
Take and sift them --
Keep what is worth keeping --
And with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

If I Had Known

If I had known what trouble you were bearing;
What griefs were in the silence of your face;
I would have been more gentle, and more caring,
And tried to give you gladness for a space.
I would have brought more warmth into the place,
If I had known.

If I had known what thoughts despairing drew you;
(Why do we never try to understand?)
I would have lent a little friendship to you,
And slipped my hand within your hand,
And made your stay more pleasant in the land;
If I had known.

Mary Carolyn Davies


To a Friend

You entered my life in a casual way,
And saw at a glance what I needed;
There were others who passed me or met me each day,
But never a one of them heeded.

Perhaps you were thinking of other folks more,
Or chance simply seemed to decree it;
I know there were many such chances before,
But the others -- well, they didn't see it.

You said just the thing that I wished you would say,
And you made me believe that you meant it;
I held up my head in the old gallant way,
And resolved you would never repent it.

There are times when encouragement means such a lot,
And a word is enough to convey it;
There were others who could have, as easy as not --
But, just the same, they didn't say it.

There may have been someone who could have done more
To help me along, though I doubt it;
What I needed was cheering, and always before
They had let me plod onward without it.

You helped to refashion the dream of my heart,
And made me turn eagerly to it;
There were others who might have (I question that part) --
But, after all, they didn't do it!

Grace Stricker Dawson


Fellowship

When a feller hasn't got a cent
And is feelin' kind of blue,
And the clouds hang thick and dark
And won't let the sunshine through,
It's a great thing, oh my brethren,
For a feller just to lay
His hand upon your shoulder in a friendly sort o' way.

It makes a man feel happy,
It makes the tear-drops start.
And you kind o' feel a flutter
In the region of your heart.
You can't look up and meet his eye,
You don't know what to say
When a hand is on your shoulder in a friendly sort o' way.

Oh, this world's a curious compound
With its honey and its gall;
Its cares and bitter crosses,
But a good world after all.
And a good God must have made it,
Leastwise that is what I say,
When a hand is on your shoulder in a friendly sort o' way.

Author unknown


Love

I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am when I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.
*****
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.

Roy Croft

Atonement

How often we neglect a friend
When living -- but should death appear,
The penitent heart is quick to send
A wreath to lay upon his bier.

Margaret E. Bruner

Too Late

What silences we keep, year after year
With those who are most near to us, and dear!
We live beside each other day by day,
And speak of myriad things, but seldom say
The full, sweet word that lies within our reach
Beneath the common ground of common speech.

Then out of sight and out of reach they go --
Those close, familiar ones who loved us so;
And, sitting in the shadow they have left,
Alone with loneliness, and sore bereft,
We think with vain regret of some fond word
That once we might have said and they have heard.

This is the cruel cross of life -- to be
Full visioned only when the ministry
Of death has been fulfilled, and in the place
Of some dear presence is but empty space.
What recollected services can then
Give consolation for the "might have been"?

Nora Perry

Husband & Wife

Whatever I said and whatever you said,
I love you.
The word and the moment forever have fled;
I love you.
The breezes may ruffle the stream in its flow,
But tranquil and clear are the waters below;
And under all tumult you feel and you know
I love you.

Whatever you did and whatever I did,
I love you.
Whatever is open, whatever is hid,
I love you.
The strength of the oak makes the tempest a mock,
The anchor holds firm in the hurricane's shock;
Our love is the anchor, the oak and the rock,
I love you.

Whatever I thought and whatever you thought,
I love you.
The mood and the passion that made it are naught;
I love you.
For words, thoughts and deeds, though they rankle and smart,
May never delude us or hold us apart
Who treasure this talisman deep in the heart,
"I love you."

Arthur Gutterman

Together

You and I by this lamp with these
Few books shut out the world. Our knees
Touch almost in this little space.
But I am glad. I see your face.
The silences are long, but each
Hears the other without speech.
And in this simple scene there is
The essence of all subtleties,
The freedom from all fret and smart,
The one sure sabbath of the heart.

The world -- we cannot conquer it,
Nor change the minds of fools one whit,
Here, here alone do we create
Beauty and peace inviolate;
Here night by night and hour by hour
We build a high impregnable tower
Whence may shine, now and again,
A light to light the feet of men
When they see the rays thereof:
And this is marriage, this is love.

Ludwig Lewisohn

The Human Touch

'Tis the human touch in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine.

For shelter is gone when the night is o'er,
And bread lasts only a day,
But the touch of the hand and the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul alway.

Spencer Michael Free

The Friend Who Just Stands By

When trouble comes your soul to try,
You love the friend who just "stands by."
Perhaps there's nothing he can do --
The thing is strictly up to you;
For there are troubles all your own,
And paths your soul must tread alone;
Times when love can't smooth the road
Nor friendship lift the heavy load,

But just to know you have a friend
Who will "stand by" until the end,
Whose sympathy through all endures,
Whose warm embrace is always yours --
It helps, someway, to pull you through,
Although there's nothing he can do.
And so with fervent heart you cry,
"God bless the friend who just 'stands by'!"

B.Y. Williams


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