“Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.” —Richard Barnfield

I have always considered the cast of Fringe, Anna Tov, John Noble and Joshua Jackson in particular, to be among the finest actors we have seen. So it is notable to share the following from the producer of this short-film: “‘The amazing thing about Friend was our entire production team was made up of Fringe crew. That’s what made it such a unique and personal project,’ recounts John Noble. [The film] ‘will be considered cryptic by some… there is a lot to this little film and I look forward to sharing it with Fringe fans who appreciate the mysterious side of life.'”

“When I see birches bend to left and right, Across the line of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.”

Cartoon from 1930.

BIRCHES by Robert Frost

So was I once myself a swinger of birches;

And so I dream of going back to be.
It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig’s having lashed across it open.
I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate wilfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love:
I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.
I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.