Classic Poem

My friend leaned o'er the flowery brink
Of evil, bending down to drink;
But though he stooped, resolved to take
The harmful draught despite my fears,
He yielded for my pleading's sake—
Feeling my love and tears.

Again he stoops; again I long
To save a fellow-man from wrong.
He was my friend! Fain, in this hour,
Would I defend him as before:
I strive—but I have lost the power,
Who love him now no more.