Earth cannot be a desert, joy-bereft,
To any heart, if but one friend is left;--
Yet friends oft change, and friendship proves a name,
And death at last must ever quench its flame.
Yet He's a friend, than brother closer far;--
One whose affection changes cannot mar;--
One tempted, tried, and grieved, as you have been;--
Long a lone wanderer through this world of sin;--
Himself without a friend whose steadfast heart
In His deep cup of anguish shared a part.
Friendless He knelt in dark Gethsamane;--
Unfriended hung on Calvary's bloody tree;--
And all for what?--His matchless love to prove
For man, His enemy! O, matchless love!--
O, wondrous Friendship!--O, unchanging Friend!--
Who, loving thus, should love unto the end,
That, evermore, the ransomed soul might rest
Its weary head upon His faithful breast,
And feel, 'mid all vicissitudes and pains,
That one, true, constant, loving friend remains.
Friend, Brother, Father!--Could we ask for more?
Yet these dear names exhaust not half the store.
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