The Friend Who Just Stands By

By  B.Y. Williams

When trouble comes your soul to try

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 fervent heart you cry

“God bless the friend who just stands by.”