On friendship, and gratitude

On Friendship (including Blipfriends)
And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship.

And he answered, saying:
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 of 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 the sharing of
        pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Kahlil Gibran, from The Prophet

Thank you dear Blipfriends for the dew of all the little things you share each day.

Thanks to Sounds True and Seth Godin for dropping this poem and other gems into my inbox.  

Thirty five years ago Kahlil Gibran was my constant companion, his voice echoes deep in my heart still and I hear his cadence in every line I write.  Blessed be for the currents of life that bring us exactly the reminders we need when we need them.

With credit and thanks to @Arachne for inspiration - again! 

#am writing