He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside; for you come to him with your hunger and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind, you fear not the ‘nay’ in your own mind, nor do you withhold the ‘ay’. And when he is silent your mind ceases not to listen to his heart; for without words in friendships all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend you grieve not; for that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain for the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship, save the deepening of the spirit.

If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures; for in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

"The Prophet" by K. Gibran