Friendship - Kahil Gibran

Friendship

And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship."
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

-- Kahil Gibran was a poet, philosopher, and artist. He was born in Lebanon, a land that has produced many prophets and is widely considered to be on the greatest Arabic prophets of our age. His writings have been translated into many languages and his fame and influence have spread far beyond the middle East. Kahlil's most famous work is his short book "The Prophet" (1923). The prophet is a book of 26 poetic essays which deal with issues such as birth and death.
In 1895 Gibran and his family moved to the US where Kahlil lived until his death in 1931.