All Enemies Become Friends as We Age

Enemies long-suffered from sin and from grudge and from error
Morph into friends of a sort by a strangest convention,
When we encounter by age the primordial terror,

Crueler an enemy, call for a warrior’s suspension
When confront death; foes shall become all the fairer
After devoting to them whom we gift our attention,

That gold-precious allotment, our mutual sharer
Seems as an ally, and bitterness turns to redemption:
Enemies’ friendships are savored and prized all the rarer.