Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN EPHELIA AND ARDELIA by ANNE FINCH

First Line: WHAT FRIENDSHIP IS, ARDELIA, SHOW
Last Line: BUT 'TIS TO LOVE, AS I LOVE YOU.
Subject(s): FRIENDSHIP;

EPH. WHAT Friendship is, Ardelia, show.
ARD. 'Tis to love as I love you.
EPH. This account, so short (though kind),
Suits not my enquiring mind.
Therefore farther now repeat:
What is Friendship when complete?
ARD. 'Tis to share all joy and grief;
'Tis to lend all due relief
From the tongue, the heart, the hand;
'Tis to mortgage house and land;
For a friend be sold a slave;
'Tis to die upon a grave,
If a friend therein do lie.
EPH. This indeed, though carried high;
This, though more than e'er was done
Underneath the rolling sun,
This has all been said before.
Can Ardelia say no more?
ARD. Words indeed no more can show:
@3But 'tis to love, as I love you@1.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net