After my grandmother passed away last year, my family picked through her eclectic library. I found an old Ralph Waldo Emerson book entitled ESSAYS: first series.

Inside this book was an old note, presumably from one of her friends:

Enjoyed the “Essays” tho must admit I didn’t wade into all of them as I find Emerson difficult but worthwhile reading. Thanx. Rondall Maher

The note, on a piece of thin yellow paper, was left on a page containing the following poem that made me think of many of you.

FRIENDSHIP.

A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs,
The world uncertain comes and goes,
The lover rooted stays.
I fancied he was fled,
And, after many a year,
Glowed unexhausted kindliness
Like daily sunrise there.
My careful heart was free again, —
O friend, my bosom said,
Through thee alone the sky is arched,
Through thee the rose is red,
All things through thee take nobler form,
And look beyond the earth,
And is the mill-round of our fate
A sun-path in thy worth.
Me too thy nobleness has taught
To master my despair;
The fountains of my hidden life
Are through thy friendship fair.