Hugh Black

The pledge of Friendship! it is still divine,
Though watery floods have quenched its burning wine;
Whatever vase the sacred drops may hold,
The gourd, the shell, the cup of beaten gold,
Around its brim the bond of Nature throws
A garland sweeter than the banquet's rose.

O. W. Holmes

O friend, my bosom said,
Through thee alone the sky is arched,
Through thee the rose is red;
All things through thee take nobler form,
And look beyond the earth,
The mill-round of our fate appears
A sun-path in thy worth.
Me too thy nobleness has taught
To master my despair;
The fountains of my hidden life
Are through thy friendship fair.

Emerson

Friend is a word of royal tone;
Friend is a poem all alone.

From the Persian

Happy is the house that shelters a friend! It might well be built like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day.