kahlil gibran

from "on friendship"

when your friend speaks her mind you
fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor
do you withhold the "ay."

and when she is silent your heart ceases
not to listen to her heart;

when you part from your friend, you
grieve not;

for that which you love most in her may
be clearer in her absence, as the mountan
to the climber is clearer from the plain