THE PERFECT FRIENDSHIP

By Evaleen Stein

There is a garden so divinely fair

That in its magic bound, surpassing sweet,

The golden buds, so Persian songs repeat,

Spring forth immortal in enchanted air;

But, ah, a close there is, more heavenly rare,

Where, cherished warm within the heart’ s retreat,

Love’ s whitest lilies burgeon to complete

And fragrant flowering lovely past compare.

O dearest friend, such lilies have I found

Within my heart, undreamed-of but for thee!

Nor any fabled buds of genie’ s ground

Are sweeter in their immortality;

When thou art near, like notes of happy birds,

My thoughts uprise in songs that need no words.