A Mile With Me

A friendship poem expressing true friends will walk with us in the good times and in the hard times. Henry VanDyke reminds us that friendship is for all seasons not just the happy ones.

How often have you walked alone down a rock-strewn pathway with faulting steps? Or, have you been alone on a wind and rain-swept road when your car breaks down with no one in sight? These same feelings may arise as we all walk through life devoid of a true friend to share in our ups and downs. It isn't that we may not be capable of pulling ourselves out of doom and gloom or plight or difficulty, but, it is more that we have no one to guide us, share our journey, or simply by listening to another. A resolution to a problem or concern, through friendship, is not always what's wanted or needed.

Instead, it is a time that our spirit simply needs to know that someone will come alongside us no matter the issue, difficulty, or obstacle. It is a person we can speak to without feeling the need to guard our words or to appear to be something we are not. Without friendship, we are living in a void. Relentless care, unfailing concern, and camaraderie are embedded deep within the relationship between friends. Henry VanDyke reminds us that friendship is for all seasons, not just the happy ones. As poet Henery Van Dyke pens so truthfully:
"The brave, sweet words that cheer the way
Where he walks a mile with me."

On the other hand, we probably have all experienced people who claim to be our support, our friends vowing to be with us through thick and thin but then vanish when issues are difficult, or help is required. Are these true friends? The answer should be obvious - no they are not. And, the same thoughts apply to each of us if we abandon our friend or friends when it is inconvenient or when it may require us to give up some of our time, or some of our other resources.

Be strong, be true and assuredly be able to see beyond the immediate selfishness of life to put on our friend's shoes and walk with them in earnest glee.

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A Mile With Me
Poet: Henry VanDyke

O who will walk a mile with me
Along life's merry way?
A comrade blithe and full of glee,
Who dares to laugh out loud and free,
And let his frolic fancy play,
Like a happy child, through the flowers gay
That fill the field and fringe the way
Where he walks a mile with me.

And who will walk a mile with me
Along life's weary way?
A friend whose heart has eyes to see
The stars shine out o'er the darkening lea,
And the quiet rest at the end o' the day,—
A friend who knows, and dares to say,
The brave, sweet words that cheer the way
Where he walks a mile with me.

With such a comrade, such a friend,
I fain would walk till journeys end,
Through summer sunshine, winter rain,
And then?—Farewell, we shall meet again!

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