Classic Poem

between Ardelia and Ephelia Eph.

What Friendship is, Ardelia, show. Ard.
'Tis to love as I love you. Eph.
This account, so short (though kind)
Suits not my enquiring mind.
Therefore farther now repeat:
What is Friendship when complete? Ard.
'Tis to share all joy and grief;
'Tis to lend all due relief
From the tongue, the heart, the hand,
'Tis to mortgage house and land;
For a friend be sold a slave;
'Tis to die upon a grave
If a friend do therein lie. Eph.
This indeed, though carried high;
This, though more than e'er was done
Underneath the rolling sun,
This has all been said before.
Can Ardelia say no more? Ard.
Words indeed no more can show:
But 'tis to love as I love you.