A Friend

Author Unknown (controversial)

This is the 1978 version

What is a friend?
I will tell you.
It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself.
Your soul can be naked with them.
They seem to ask of you to put on nothing, only to be what and who you really are.
They do not want you to be better or worse.
When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent.
You do not have to be on your guard.
You can say what you think, so long as it is genuinely you.
They understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you.
With them you breathe freely.
You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks,
your petty meanesses and absurdities and,
in opening them up to them,
they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of his loyalty. They understand.
You do not have to be careful.
You can abuse them, neglect them, and tolerate them.
Best of all, you can keep still with them. It makes no matter. They like you.
They are like the fire that purges to the bone.
They understand, they understand.
You can weep with them, sin with them, laugh with them, pray with them.
Through and underneath it all they see, know, and love you.
A friend? What is a friend?
Just one thing, someone with whom you can be yourself!