Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907)

Friends—with a Difference

O, ONE I need to love me,

And one to understand,

And one to soar above me,

And one to clasp my hand,

And one to make me slumber,

And one to bid me strive,

But seven’s the sacred number

That keeps the soul alive.

And first and last of seven,

And all the world and more,

Is she I need in Heaven

And may not need before.