Silver and Gold

The Silver and Gold Season has officially begun...

My friend, Michelle, commented on my last blog with this wonderful poem about old and new friendships. You've heard it before. Maybe you even know all the words. In keeping with the theme of Blessing which this Season inevitably inspires, I wanted to share this poem with you.

Silver and Gold

Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
New-made friendships, like new wine,
Age will mellow and refine.
Friendships that have stood the test-
Time and change-are surely best;
Brow may wrinkle, hair grow gray;
Friendship never knows decay.
For 'mid old friends, tried and true,
Once more we our youth renew.
But old friends, alas! may die;
New friends must their place supply.
Cherish friendship in your breast-
New is good, but old is best;
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.

For those of my friends who are among the "new", I want to tell you that even now, as friendship is being born, I look forward to when we are old together. I didn't know what old friends were until the last few years, but now that I know, I value more richly the diamonds in their unrefined state, knowing what they might become.

What are silver and gold to you?