Reap with gratitude

A friend is an answer to all your needs.
He is a harvest you have sown with
Love and now reap with gratitude.

He is all warmth and comfort, like
a fire burning on the hearth.  My friend
I go to in hunger and am given peace
of soul and mind.

When he is silent I still listen
to the message written in his heart.
We talk with our eyes, and expressions,
and touch, there is no need for words.

In friendship all thoughts, expectations
and desires of one are known to the other,
for he cares.  I can dare to be silent
with him and he doesn't rebuke me.

When we truly have a friend and are parted
from him, we grieve.  For all that we loved
in him is more clearly defined in his absence.

A friend loved gives us purpose of life.  I
ask only that he be himself and allow me to
be myself without fear of rejection.

If in friendship we ask only to fill our
needs without thought to the other that
is not true love.  But if in answering his needs
I benefit... My joy is boundless.

To receive from friendship one must give what he
himself needs most.  It is like the sea, what the tide
carries off it also brings back to the shore. 

It is constant, always returning.  At times
it floods us with its depth and then ebbs off
before we feel smothered in its waves.

As my friend... he fills my need but leaves me
my emptiness... to find my own way.

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