Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
Poems of FriendshipTo Seek a Friend
William Cowper (17311800)W
But men unqualified and base
Will boast it their possession?
Profusion apes the noble part
Of liberality of heart,
And dulness, of discretion.
Illuminating heart or mind,
Provoke to imitation;
No wonder friendship does the same,
That jewel of the purest flame,
Or rather constellation.
That stands on sordid interest,
Or mean self-love erected;
Nor such as may awhile subsist,
Between the sot and sensualist,
For vicious ends connected.
T’ exhibit in full bloom disclosed
The graces and the beauties,
That form the character he seeks,
For ’t is a union that bespeaks
Reciprocated duties.
It is indeed above all price,
And must be made the basis;
But ev’ry virtue of the soul
Must constitute the charming whole,
All shining in their places.
The closest knot that may be tied,
By ceaseless sharp corrosion;
A temper passionate and fierce
May suddenly your joys disperse
At one immense explosion.
In hopes of permanent delight—
The secret just committed,
Forgetting its important weight,
They drop through mere desire to prate,
And by themselves outwitted.
All thoughts of friendship are but dreams
If envy chance to creep in;
An envious man, if you succeed,
May prove a dang’rous foe indeed,
But not a friend worth keeping.
On terms of amity complete;
Plebeians must surrender,
And yield so much to noble folk,
It is combining fire with smoke,
Obscurity with splendor.
Their het’rogeneous politics
Without an effervescence,
Like that of salts with lemon-juice,
Which does not yet like that produce
A friendly coalescence.
And make a calm of human life;
But friends that chance to differ
On points which God has left at large,
How freely will they meet and charge!
No combatants are stiffer.
Needs no expense of argument,
No cutting and contriving—
Seeking a real friend, we seem
T’ adopt the chymists’ golden dream,
With still less hope of thriving.
Some blemish in due time made known,
By trespass or omission;
Sometimes occasion brings to light
Our friend’s defect long hid from sight,
And even from suspicion.
As circumspectly as you can,
And, having made election,
Beware no negligence of yours,
Such as a friend but ill endures,
Enfeeble his affection.
Or something not to be defined
First fixes our attention;
So manners decent and polite,
The same we practised at first sight,
Must save it from declension.
Good sense and knowledge of mankind
To be at least expedient,
And, after summoning all the rest,
Religion ruling in the breast
A principal ingredient.