You are a friend of mine

You are a friend of mine,

Thank God I have learned your worth,

One of a royal group

The very salt of the earth.

Culled from the mighty throngs

That trek on the beaten ways

That cross and recross my path,

All through the hurrying days

Millions have come and gone

But by a law divine

Nature has deigned to segregate

All that I claim as mine.

So has your name been placed

High on the sacred scroll

With all who agree to barter with me

The merchandise of the soul.

All through the passing days

Swift in their hectic flight

I shall take time to think of you

Morning and noon and night.

I will be true to you

Till the last long slanting rays

Of life's setting sun shall gild the peaks

Of the world of other days.

Nothing can budge my faith,

Nothing can breed a doubt

Never till time shall cease

And the sun and stars burn out.

—Dr. Geo. W. Middleton.