Philia

“…little, nameless, unremembered, acts /Of kindness and of love.” -- William Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798”

How quickly the blizzard of the mundane

Buries the modest, determined efforts

With which genuine friendship we maintain;

We ought to excavate these small comforts

And cherish them, for they do testify

To the persistence of our better parts—

Gloomy misanthropy they do defy

As the shining progeny of fine hearts

Real kindness is not obligatory

Nor is it mere custom or dry habit;

Genuine friends are not seeking glory

But a world more are glad to inhabit

When a friend makes your trials more bearable

Recognize a love incomparable