Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray and Smollett

Friendship: An Ode

Printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1743

1 Friendship, peculiar boon of Heaven,
      The noble mind’s delight and pride—
    To men and angels only given,
      To all the lower world denied!

2 While love, unknown among the blest,
      Parent of thousand wild desires,
    The savage and the human breast
      Torments alike with raging fires;

3 With bright, but oft destructive gleam,
      Alike o’er all his lightnings fly;
    Thy lambent glories only beam
      Around the favourites of the sky.

4 Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys,
      On fools and villains ne’er descend;
    In vain for thee the tyrant sighs,
      And hugs a flatterer for a friend.

5 Directress of the brave and just,
      Oh, guide us through life’s darksome way!
    And let the tortures of mistrust
      On selfish bosoms only prey.

6 Nor shall thine ardours cease to glow,
      When souls to peaceful climes remove:
    What raised our virtue here below,
      Shall aid our happiness above.