Amity
There are good friends, good friends indeed; good friends in need always of something.
Kay Sage
SourceLicence:Public domain (US, unrenewed)
There are good friends, good friends indeed; good friends in need always of something.
Kay Sage's "Amity" starts out sounding like a greeting card. "Good friends, good friends indeed" is the kind of warm, slightly gushing phrase you'd expect at a wedding toast. Then the poem turns on a single word. "Good friends in need" borrows the old saying about a friend in need being a friend indeed, but flips it. Here, the friends are the ones who are always in need, and that "always" gets a whole line to itself, so it lands with a thud.
The final line, "of something," is vague on purpose. It could be money, attention, favors, or comfort; the point is that the asking never stops. The speaker sounds tired and wry rather than furious, and the poem stays quiet and dry. "Amity" literally means friendship, so the title becomes part of the joke. In just a few short lines, the poem lets you feel a small, familiar exhaustion.