Thank you my very dear friends

When trouble comes your soul to try

You love the friend who just stands by

Perhaps there's nothing he can do -

The thing is strictly up to you;

For there are troubles all your own,

And paths the soul must tread alone;

Times when love cannot smooth the road

Nor friendship lift the heavy load,

But just to know you have a friend

Who will stand by until the end,

Whose sympathy through all endures,

Whose warm handclasp is always yours -

It helps, someway, to pull you through,

Although there's nothing he can do.

And so with fervant heart you cry:

"God bless the friend who just stands by".

B.Y. Williams