A Friend in Need by Louisa Lawson

Friends will quickly leave you,
Slight you and decieve you,
Or will not believe you
      If you have a wrong.

Those who hurt will hate you,
Enemies will slate you,
And as crank distrate you
      If you have a wrong.

But if you are righted
Those who coolly slighted
Will be so delighted.
      Said so all along!

But you then can show them,
That you would forego them,
As too well you know them
      Since you've had a wrong.

But yuo friends, God bless them!
Take their hands and press them,
You'll not have to guess them
      If you've had a wrong.

First published in The Dawn, 1 March 1904;
and later in
The Lonely Crossing and Other Poems by Louisa Lawson, 1905;
The Bulletin, 21 December 1905; and
Louisa Lawson: Collected Poems with Selected Critical Commentaries, edited by L.M. Rutherford, M.E. Roughley and Nigel Spence, 1996.

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library

See also.