Friendship on thine trust I float
And years invested in thy nourish
In memory remote of every note
That slipped me by in your flourish
Of those made that last till today
And some so brief that never saw
The light and shade of another day
Still make good as the past I thaw
Lost at times in anger, rage and vain
Sold in greed for money’s gain
Troubled when deserted in pain
Despised most when pledged to feign
To garner favors that fawned flattery
Few rendered in surrender to truce
Tossed between camaraderie and bigotry
A balance often hard to deduce
The inner circle and the outer too
The formal and the informal few
Sharing yet differing points of view
Loyalists, the only friends I knew