A Friend Indeed.

If every friend who meditates         In soft, unspoken thought     With winning courtesy and tact     The doing of a kindly act         To cheer some lonely lot,     Were like the friend of whom I dream,     Then hardship but a myth would seem.     If sympathy were always thus         Oblivious of space,     And, like the tendrils of the vine,     Could just as lovingly incline         To one in distant place,     'Twould draw the world together so     Might none the name of stranger know.     If every throb responsive that         My ardent spirit thrills     Could, like the skylark's ecstasy,     Be vocal in sweet melody,         Beyond dividing hills     In octaves of the atmosphere     Were music wafted to his ear.     If every friendship were like one,         So helpful and so true,     To other hearts as sad as mine     'Twould bring the joy so near divine,         And hope revive anew;     So life's dull path would it illume,     And radiate beyond the tomb.