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Famous Good Friend Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Good Friend poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous good friend poems. These examples illustrate what a famous good friend poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...reaching my hearth,
But my son waking from sleep.

If they say I have obtained
The pick of the jeweller's trove,
A good friend is what I've gained
And I have put aside love.

I have seen across the skies
A wounded eagle still flying;
I know the cubby where lies
The snake of its venom dying.

I know that the world is weak
And must soon fall to the ground,
Then the gentle brook will speak
Above the quiet profound.

While trembling with joy and dread,
I have t...Read more of this...
by Martí, José



...an debts are paid, 
As one by one the phantoms go. 

ENVOY

Life is the game that must be played: 
This truth at least, good friend, we know; 
So live and laugh, nor be dismayed 
As one by one the phantoms go....Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...good body once I bore; 
Look at this shrunken, ghastly face: 
Didst ever see that face before?

Ah, well, friend Death, good friend thou art; 
Thy only fault thy lagging gait, 
Mistaken pity in thy heart 
For timorous ones that bid thee wait.

Do quickly all thou hast to do, 
Nor I nor mine will hindrance make; 
I shall be free when thou art through; 
I grudge thee nought that thou must take!

Stay! I have lied; I grudge thee one, 
Yes, two I grudge thee at this last,-- 
Two ...Read more of this...
by Hunt, James Henry Leigh
...n) was forc'd to speak, or burst.
And is not mine, my friend, a sorer case,
When ev'ry coxcomb perks them in my face?

"Good friend, forbear! you deal in dang'rous things.
I'd never name queens, ministers, or kings;
Keep close to ears, and those let asses prick;
'Tis nothing"--Nothing? if they bite and kick?
Out with it, Dunciad! let the secret pass,
That secret to each fool, that he's an ass:
The truth once told (and wherefore should we lie?)
The queen of Midas slept, and so...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander
...  One morning thus, by Esthwaite lake,  When life was sweet, I knew not why,  To me my good friend Matthew spake,  And thus I made reply.   "The eye it cannot chuse but see,  We cannot bid the ear be still;  Our bodies feel, where'er they be,  Against, or with our will."   "Nor less I deem that there are powers  Which of themselves our minds impress,  ...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William



...In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter - bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."...Read more of this...
by Crane, Stephen
...ered on you to say that, 
Knowing that I believe in you too surely 
To spoil you with a kick or paint you over.

No, my good friend, Mynheer Rembrandt van Ryn— 
Sometime a personage in Amsterdam, 
But now not much—I shall not give myself 
To be the sport of any dragon-spawn 
Of Holland, or elsewhere. Holland was hell
Not long ago, and there were dragons then 
More to be fought than any of these we see 
That we may foster now. They are not real, 
But not for that the less to b...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...t to be seen there but parsons,
and syndics of commerce,
Secretaries perchance, ensigns, and majors of horse."
"But, my good friend, pray tell me, what can such people e'er meet with
That can be truly called great?--what that is great can they do?"
"What? Why they form cabals, they lend upon mortgage, they pocket
Silver spoons, and fear not e'en in the stocks to be placed."
"Whence do ye, then, derive the destiny, great and gigantic,
Which raises man up on high, e'en when it ...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von
...racious smile light up your face, and hear
Your wonderful words, that all mean verily 

" 'The thing they seem to mean: good friend, so dear
To me in everything, come here to-night,
Or else the hours will pass most dull and drear; 

" 'If you come not, I fear this time I might
Get thinking over much of times gone by,
When I was young, and green hope was in sight: 

" 'For no man cares now to know why I sigh;
And no man comes to sing me pleasant songs,
Nor any brings me the sw...Read more of this...
by Morris, William
...in punch hot and then to bed." 
"Jane, fetch the punch bowl to the gemmen; 
And mind you don't put too much lemon. 
Our good friend Saul has had a fight of it, 
Now smoke up, boys, and make a night of it." 

The room was full of men and stink 
Of bad cigars and heavy drink. 
Riley was nodding to the floor 
And gurgling as he wanted more. 
His mouth was wide, his face was pale, 
His swollen face was sweating ale; 
And one of those assembled Greeks 
Had corked black crosses on ...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John
...here broke in the other man,
"Enough of poetry, draw the deed and sign."
The old man seemed to wizen at the voice,
"My good friend, Grootver, --" he at once began.
"No introductions, let us have some wine,
And business, now that you at last have made your choice."

11
A harsh and disagreeable man he proved to be,
This Grootver, with no single kindly thought.
Kurler explained, his old hands nervously
Twisting his beard. His vessel he had bought
From Grootver. He had thought t...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy
...said, 
"Hath Gawain failed in any quest of thine? 
When have I stinted stroke in foughten field? 
But as for thine, my good friend Percivale, 
Thy holy nun and thou have driven men mad, 
Yea, made our mightiest madder than our least. 
But by mine eyes and by mine ears I swear, 
I will be deafer than the blue-eyed cat, 
And thrice as blind as any noonday owl, 
To holy virgins in their ecstasies, 
Henceforward." 

`"Deafer," said the blameless King, 
"Gawain, and blinder unto ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...heard
     An outcast pilgrim will she rove,
     Than wed the man she cannot love.
     XIV.

     'Thou shak'st, good friend, thy tresses gray,—
     That pleading look, what can it say
     But what I own?—I grant him brave,
     But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave;
     And generous,—save vindictive mood
     Or jealous transport chafe his blood:
     I grant him true to friendly band,
     As his claymore is to his hand;
     But O! that very blade of st...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter
...Palacio, good friend,
is spring there
showing itself on branches of black poplars
by the roads and river? On the steeps
of the high Duero, spring is late,
but so soft and lovely when it comes!
Are there a few new leaves
on the old elms?
The acacias must still be bare,
and the mountain peaks snow-filled.
Oh the massed pinks and whites
of Moncayo, massed up there,
beau...Read more of this...
by Machado, Antonio
...he dead without his shoes?"
Cries Bob "I'm sorry for the news:
O, were the wretch but living still,
And in his place my good friend Will!
Or had a mitre on his head,
Provided Bolinbroke were dead!"

Now Curll his shop from rubbish drains:
Three genuine tomes of Swift's remains!
And then, to make them pass the glibber,
Revised by Tibbalds, Moore, and Cibber.
He'll treat me as he does my betters,
Publish my will, my life, my letters;
Revive the libels born to die;
Which Pope mu...Read more of this...
by Swift, Jonathan

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things