Friendship

SOMETHING than pleasure dearer, more elate Than doubtful hope; more pensive too than joy; More pure than love. They form a band of such Confirmed alliance, so constrain the will, Sooth the rough passions, mingle with such art The hopes, the fears, the raptures of the soul, That selfishness is lost, and one free aim Inspires two spirits, while one magic band Entwines each heart, and so unites their strength That pressing onward they despise the front And force of opposition; foil the shafts Of envy, meet the armed hosts of care, And find stern grief of half her power disarm'd.

Then if these souls unite in virtue's cause, Their mystic union never shall dissolve, Or in this life, or in the life to come.