Friendship Poem by Henry David Thoreau

Friendship

Rating: 3.7

I think awhile of Love, and while I think,
Love is to me a world,
Sole meat and sweetest drink,
And close connecting link
Tween heaven and earth.

I only know it is, not how or why,
My greatest happiness;
However hard I try,
Not if I were to die,
Can I explain.

I fain would ask my friend how it can be,
But when the time arrives,
Then Love is more lovely
Than anything to me,
And so I'm dumb.

For if the truth were known, Love cannot speak,
But only thinks and does;
Though surely out 'twill leak
Without the help of Greek,
Or any tongue.

A man may love the truth and practise it,
Beauty he may admire,
And goodness not omit,
As much as may befit
To reverence.

But only when these three together meet,
As they always incline,
And make one soul the seat,
And favorite retreat,
Of loveliness;

When under kindred shape, like loves and hates
And a kindred nature,
Proclaim us to be mates,
Exposed to equal fates
Eternally;

And each may other help, and service do,
Drawing Love's bands more tight,
Service he ne'er shall rue
While one and one make two,
And two are one;

In such case only doth man fully prove
Fully as man can do,
What power there is in Love
His inmost soul to move
Resistlessly.

______

Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,
Withstand the winter's storm,
And spite of wind and tide,
Grow up the meadow's pride,
For both are strong

Above they barely touch, but undermined
Down to their deepest source,
Admiring you shall find
Their roots are intertwined
Insep'rably.

Friendship
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Aamir Sheikh 18 June 2016

Handsome poem :)

23 18 Reply

this is really a wonderful poem

22 16 Reply
Jeanette Telusma 06 May 2017

Kudos.... I enjoyed this poem and loved the flow and truth it brought to light. Thank you.

20 8 Reply
Kebe Iwara 19 April 2012

This poem takes me to the walden pond of my tears. Very moving, as if of anything true, and ingenuously portrayed.

17 10 Reply
Gopal Varma 12 June 2013

Annie Bing, You hit the nail on the head.

15 11 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 19 September 2024

So cutely worded, sharper than the sharpest sword! I cite the two last lines: Their roots are intertwined Insep'rably.. How powerfully ended. TOP Marks!

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 19 September 2024

CONTINUED: Friendship' is about the love Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson had for one another. This poem describes the nature of true devotion and how two souls are tied in a bond of love, goodness, and truthfulness.

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 19 September 2024

CONGRATS being chosen so many times by Poem Hunter and Team as The Classic Poem Of The Day. TOP Marks once again, enjoyed this poem about true friendship based on love, so many beautiful methapores the poet used

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 19 September 2024

LAST: Wendell Phillips and defending abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 19 September 2024

Before I continue responding, first this from his BIO: He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of

0 0 Reply
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Concord, Massachusetts
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