Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, Jan. 1, 1919

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, Jan. 1, 1919, by Various, Edited by Owen Seamen
E-text prepared by Malcolm Farmer, Sandra Brown, and the Project Gutenberg Online distributed Proofreading Team

(Inspired by the exchange of Minutes in Government Departments.)
He was my friend—if friendship's proof
Be sympathy profound and sweet;
Eight months we toiled beneath one roof,
Yet somehow never chanced to meet.
So near and yet so far! I own
We may have passed upon the stair;
Yet, if we did, we passed unknown;
No tremor told me he was there.