FRIENDSHIP POEMS

ON THE FRIENDSHIP CAFÉ

We hope that you enjoy the friendship poems on The Friendship Café, which include famous friendship poems, inspirational friendship poems, funny friendship poems, best friends forever poems, and the odd famous friendship poem or sad friendship poem.

Friendship Poem by H. W. Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
— H. W. Longfellow 

An Irish Friendship Wish

May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness and cheer.

 

To A Friend — A Friendship Poem by Matthew Arnold

Who prop, thou ask'st in these bad days, my mind?
He much, the old man, who, clearest-souled of men,
Saw The Wide Prospect, and the Asian Fen,
And Tmolus hill, and Smyrna bay, though blind.

Much he, whose friendship I not long since won,
That halting slave, who in Nicopolis
Taught Arrian, when Vespasian's brutal son
Cleared Rome of what most shamed him. But be his

My special thanks, whose even-balanced soul,
From first youth tested up to extreme old age,
Business could not make dull, nor passion wild;

Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole;
The mellow glory of the Attic stage,
Singer of sweet Colonus, and its child.
— Matthew Arnold 

 

Two Classic Friendship Poems
(Best Friends Forever Poems)

He who has a thousand friends
Has not a friend to spare,
While he who has one enemy
Shall meet him everywhere.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack,
For he knew when he pleas’d he could whistle them back.
— Oliver Goldsmith 

One of the Friendship Poems from the Nineteenth Century

Remember friends as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I.
As low as I you once must be,
Prepare yourself and follow me.
— Gravestone from the Nineteenth Century

Friends — A Friendship Poem by William Butler Yeats

Now must I these three praise
Three women that have wrought
What joy is in my days:
One because no thought,
Nor those unpassing cares,
No, not in these fifteen
Many-times-troubled years,
Could ever come between
Mind and delighted mind;
And one because her hand
Had strength that could unbind
What none can understand,
What none can have and thrive,
Youth's dreamy load, till she
So changed me that I live
Labouring in ecstasy.
And what of her that took
All till my youth was gone
With scarce a pitying look?
How could I praise that one?
When day begins to break
I count my good and bad,
Being wakeful for her sake,
Remembering what she had,
What eagle look still shows,
While up from my heart's root
So great a sweetness flows
I shake from head to foot.
— William Butler Yeats

 
Best Friends Forever Poems

Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.
— Albert Camus

The rain may be falling hard outside,
But your smile makes it all alright.
I'm so glad that you're my friend.
I know our friendship will never end.
— Robert Alan

Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache:
Do be my enemy for friendship's sake.
— William Blake

When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing.
— Author Unknown

The happiest business in all the world is that of making friends,
And no investment on the street pays larger dividends,
For life is more than stocks and bonds, and love than rate percent,
— Author Unknown

Make new friends, but keep the old,
one is silver, the other is gold.
— Author Unknown

 

Three Funny Friendship Poems

I've discovered a way to stay friends forever —
There's really nothing to it.
I simply tell you what to do
And you do it!
— Shel Silverstein

I do not love thee, Dr Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not love thee, Dr Fell.
— Tom Brown

Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
But hating, my boy, is an art.
— Ogden Nash

Inspirational Friendship Poems

Friends will come and friends will go, even best friends.
The seasons change and it will show,
I will age and so will you,
But our friendship stays, strong and true.
— Author Unknown

When true friends meet in adverse hour;
'Tis like a sunbeam through a shower.
A watery way an instant seen,
The darkly closing clouds between.
— Sir Walter Scott

Too late we learn, a man must hold his friend
Unjudged, accepted, trusted to the end.
— John Boyle O'Reilly

 

A Classic Poem about Friendship and Love by Emily Brontë

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?

The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild-briar fair?

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly's sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He may still leave thy garland green.
— Emily Brontë

Another Friendship Poem by Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
 
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, who has sight so keen and strong
That it can follow the flight of song?
 
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  (1807-1882) 

 

Three Famous Friendship Poems 

These three famous friendship poems are also highly inspirational poems:

From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There's nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.
— Hilaire Belloc

Today a man discovered gold and fame,
Another flew the stormy seas;
One found the germ of a disease.
But what high fates my path attend:
For I — today I found a friend.
— Helen Barker Parker

Scatter seeds of kindness everywhere you go;
Scatter bits of courtesy — watch them grow and grow.
Gather buds of friendship;
Keep them till full-blown;
You will find more happiness than you have ever known.
— Amy R. Raabe

   Four Funny Love / Friendship Poems

Some get a kick from cocaine
I'm sure that if
I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrifically, too
Yet, I get a kick out of you
— Cole Porter

You're the top!
You're the Coliseum.
You're the top!
You're the Louver Museum.
You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss
You're a Bendel bonnet,
A Shakespeare's sonnet,
You're Mickey Mouse.
You're the Nile,
You're the Tower of Pisa,
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,
But if, baby, I'm the bottom you're the top!
— Cole Porter

Take him, I won't put a price on him
Take him, he's yours
Take him, pyjamas look nice on him
But how he snores
— Lorentz Hart 

Prove to me that you're no fool.
Walk across my swimming pool.
— Tim Rice

George Canning's Poem about Friendship:

Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe,
bold I can meet, perhaps may turn his blow!
But of all plagues, good Heavens, thy wrath can send,
save, save, oh save me from the candid friend!
— George Canning

A Unique Friendship Poem by William Blake:

I was angry with my friend.
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe.
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
— William Blake

 

 Also see Poems about Retirement on The Joy of Being Retired Website

COPYRIGHT © 2010  by Ernie J. Zelinski
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