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...PSALM 121 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE TO SIR HENRY WOTTON (1) by JOHN DONNE SONNET: 10. TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY by JOHN MILTON PARAPHRASE ON THOMAS A KEMPIS by ALEXANDER POPE AN OLD WOMAN: 1 by EDITH SITWELL NEW HEAVEN, NEW WAR by ROBERT SOUTHWELL |