Friendship

The next word I have chosen from Consolations, by David Whyte: "friendship." David Whyte sees friendship in a very similar manner as John O'Donohue in Anam Cara. Lovely. I need not parse this essay, for it speaks for itself.

It reminds me of Cherished Friend.

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[N]o matter the medicinal virtues of being a true friend or sustaining a long close relationship with another, the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.

Picture copyright 2015, Mediocria Firma. Used with gratitude.