Friends -- They cannot help, They cannot hurt, Nor in indifference rest, But when for a host's service girt, They are a mutual guest. They are a single power Plenipotentiary, No minister of state, Anxious and wary Decides their fate. Where interest's self is There is no go-between, But where another reaps, They do but glean In scanty heaps. They have learned well to hate, And never grant reprieve, Nor e'er succumb to love, But sternly grieve, And look above. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN THE DAYS OF PRISMATIC COLOR by MARIANNE MOORE THE SELF-UNSEEING by THOMAS HARDY AUBADE [OR, A MORNING SONG FOR IMOGEN], FR. CYMBELINE by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE DERELICT; A REMINISCENCE OF R.L.S.'S TREASURE ISLAND by YOUNG EWING ALLISON THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES by ALEXANDER ANDERSON |