This anthology is one of the treasures of my library, not least because it was a gift from someone whose friendship I treasure. (Thank you, Bonnie Jean!) It contains two thoughtful introductions, one by each editor, who are, most appropriately, good friends. Most of its more than 600 pages are arranged in sections reflective of genre. Sections include such categories include Letters; Poetry; Essays; Legends, Fables, and Folktales; Affinities; Invitations; and Farewells. (Shakespeare has his own section.) Within each section, the reader finds excerpted gems from a wild array of humans writing on friendship across the millenia of human history. The index of Authors at the back ranges from Aesop (6th century B.C.E.) to Akmatova (1888-1966), from Wang Wei (768-833) to Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855).

For all the variety in voice, genre, and expression, the unifying theme is the human truth that all of life’s sweetnesses are amplifed by sharing them with a friend, and all sorrows consoled, as much as can be, when received by a friend.

This volume is one for dipping into, rather than reading straight through, and for not only its contents but for the chorus of testement of our human heritage of heartfelt regard, freely given, openly received.

Context for My Poem, “Friendship”:

The epigraph from The Norton Book of Friendship is: “We are a pair of moles burrowing away in the same direction.” (Ivan Turgenev to Gustave Flaubert, 26 May 1868)

This quotation, as well as the book’s central subject, inspired today’s Earth Day poem. Fellow creatures are innately isolated but also consoling connected with lines of sympathy. I believe that humans and other species, and indeed the whole of the planetary web are similarly connected, at all times. The best times are when we sense these connections and pause to savor them. I know that I am grateful every day for my own friends of every species!

Until tomorrow, LESLIE

White Crocus with Purple Stem (Photo: Leslie Schultz, 2023)