Near!!

How glad I am to feel you near,
to have you as a friend of common Faith,
to open up my heart to one not too afraid to look,
or too displeased to care,
but one who peers with interest rapt into the center of my soul.
How pleasant here to feel your voice role over me like the sea,
bright and fresh as a summer afternoon.
whose thoughts draw my anxious eyes as a rainbow in the sky.
Oh, the joy unearned to gaze into a mind so pure,
a model of the holy life, next to me as in the war,
or just to rest in silence savoring our tender tie.
Oh, to sit so close to one who knows my good and bad,
and chooses still my side.
now to share that clean, unselfish, flame of nearer inner bonds,
the soft embrace of hearts who truly care.