Did you hear what the Master said to us?
Then I will bring it to your memory:
He looked on us with all-embracing love;
Knew that at times we faltered, sore afraid,
Yet in all tenderness he called us friends.
At those dear words, "Ye are my friends,"
Our hearts knew utter joy and soaring hope.
Oh, what deep eagerness welled up in us;
How earnestly we prayed that we might do
All that the Master daily urged us to:
Might carry his great teaching far and wide;
Might heal the sick, destroy the blight of sin;
Might know our fellow man as God's own child;
And so might lay our honest, eager claim
To that dear name the Master gave to us,
That tender, soul-enriching name of friends.
He did not speak those words to us alone;
Their message was to travel through the years
Until each one, in every coming age,
Might feel the wonder of those holy words
Ringing with love that never wanes or ends,
"Ye are no longer servants, ye are friends."
