Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume I. Of Home: of Friendship. 1904. | | | | Poems of Friendship | | Friendship | | Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) |
| | | A RUDDY drop of manly blood | |
| The surging sea outweighs; | |
| The world uncertain comes and goes, | |
| The lover rooted stays. | |
| I fancied he was fled,— | 5 |
| And, after many a year, | |
| Glowed unexhausted kindliness, | |
| Like daily sunrise there. | |
| My careful heart was free again; | |
| O friend, my bosom said, | 10 |
| Through thee alone the sky is arched, | |
| Through thee the rose is red; | |
| All things through thee take nobler form, | |
| And look beyond the earth; | |
| The mill-round of our fate appears | 15 |
| A sun-path in thy worth. | |
| Me too thy nobleness has taught | |
| To master my despair; | |
| The fountains of my hidden life | |
| Are through thy friendship fair. | 20 | | | |
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