Ah, friend, let us be true
To one another! For the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain,
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
–Matthew Arnold.
Author Adrienne Morris 
7 responses to “Friendship”
Very helpful words!
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Rather dark but appropriate for the zeitgeist which is very disturbing…
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I think the same has always been true. In one part of the world or another there have always been wars either on a grand scale or within families. Individuals decide every day how to behave in such a world.
Have a lovely day, Bea!
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What a contrast between the stunning painting and the serious poem…very well done. Such a coincidence with the Apple Blossoms painting as I’m currently reading The Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier which is all about Apples…around which is, of course, crafted the most wonderful story.
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I will have to check it out. I remember reading Cider House Rules and not loving it–but the soundtrack for the movie is one of my favorites!
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Hmmm. Mathew must have been pretty old to be that discouraged. I’ve forgotten most of my British History…what wars were they fighting in his lifetime?……..
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Not sure exactly when this was written but there was the Crimean War, The US Civil War, uprisings in colonies, The Irish Famine,etc–enough to be a bit glum some days. 😉
I was that discouraged by age five, but have grown a little more optimistic.
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