When your friend speaks his (her)* mind you

fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor

do you withhold the “ay.”

For without words, in friendship, 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 (her)* may

be clearer in his (her)* absence, as the mountain

to the climber is clearer from the plain.

Khalil Gibran…

*italics mine