A Toast to Friends

I was asked to give the Toast to Friends at our Burns Night supper last night, and in honor of Rabbie Burns himself, I decided to turn it into a poem. I used his poem Delia, An Ode as inspiration. Cheers!


A Toast to Friends

Fair the friendships of the page,
Fair the songs of brotherly love,
But fairer still the living soul
Whose deeds a comrade speaks of.

Harsh the world’s cold view of man,
Harsher still those who hurt him.
No better joy this life provides
Than strangers who become brethren.

Round our table here this night
A gath’ring of companions,
Whose lives do strive to honor God,
Whose friendships lie in actions.

Further doth our fellowship expand
Both near and to distant nations,
For bonds which tie the hearts of man
Stagger not at distance, nor oceans.

So to those present - in body, in spirit,
We raise our glass as one.
Brothers, sisters, we call thee friend:
The greatest gift man can become.