True Friendship

They say this world is fraught with guile
They say that lips may wear a smile,
And yet the heart be cold the while,
As Zembla's sparkling icicle.

They say that those beloved for years,
Will fly when adverse fate appears,
And meet us ‘midst our lonely tears,
With eye averted scornfully.

Believe it not—oh no! oh no!
True hearts there are, that love not so,
But closer twine in grief and woe,
And love ev'n more in misery!

There may be some, perchance, whose eye
Will only smile when hope is high,
And from the couch of sorrow fly,
To meet in sounds of revelry.

Yet think not all are false and fair!
Though hearts of truth, alas! be rare,
Some, some, at least, will surely bear
The test of dark adversity.

poem by Elizabeth Margaret Chandler from Poetical Works (1836)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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