THE GIRDLE OF FRIENDSHIP

SHE gathered at her slender waist

The beauteous robe she wore;

Its folds a golden belt embraced,

One rose-hued gem it bore.

The girdle shrank; its lessening round

Still kept the shining gem,

But now her flowing locks it bound,

A lustrous diadem.

And narrower still the circlet grew;

Behold! a glittering band,

Its roseate diamond set anew,

Her neck's white column spanned.

Suns rise and set; the straining clasp

The shortened links resist,

Yet flashes in a bracelet's grasp

The diamond, on her wrist.

At length, the round of changes past

The thieving years could bring,

The jewel, glittering to the last,

Still sparkles in a ring.

So, link by link, our friendships part,

So loosen, break, and fall,

A narrowing zone; the loving heart

Lives changeless through them all.