Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FRIENDS, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FRIENDS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's hard to know who are your friends, so
Last Line: As through this woozy world he wends.
Subject(s): Friendship - False Friends; Fair Weather Friends


IT'S hard to know who are your friends, so many men have selfish ends. I take a

comrade to my heart, and feed him pie and damson tart, and give him love that's

pure and deep, and let him in my woodshed sleep. Then he requests, in dulcet
tones, that I shall lend him twenty bones. "I'd gladly lend you all you need," I

say in answer, "but indeed, H. C. of L. has stripped me bare—I haven't
twenty bucks to spare. If fifty cents will help you out, you're welcome to that

much, old scout; but I've a wife and nineteen kids, who all are needing shoes
and lids, and it's as much as I can do to dig up for that loving crew." And then

my friend comes round no more, to hang his bonnet on the floor, and talk with me

of vital things, of sealing wax and cats and kings. Instead, he roasts me
through the town, and tries to give me punk renown, as being one who is too
tight to help a comrade in a plight. This sort of thing one gets from friends,
as through this woozy world he wends.





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