HAPPY BIRTHDAY T!!

AND a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship.
And he answered, saying:

Your friend is your needs answered.
She is your field which you sow with love
and reap with thanksgiving.
And she is your board and your fireside.
For you come to her with your hunger,
and you seek her for peace.
When your friend speaks her mind you
fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor
do you withhold the “ay.”
And when she is silent your heart ceases
not to listen to her heart;
For without words, in friendship, all
thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born
and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you
grieve not;
For that which you love most in her may
be clearer in her absence, as the mountain
to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friend-
ship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the dis-
closure of its own mystery is not love but
a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable
is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If she must know the ebb of your tide,
let her know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should
seek her with hours to kill?
Seek her always with hours to live.
For it is hers to fill your need, but not
your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let
there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart
finds its morning and is refreshed.
- Kahlil Gibran