When a tempest comes, it cleanses all that is dead. Including friendships.
Friends. Friends don’t flee with the first gust of frozen rain.
They stick with you, sharing body heat, and pain, and sorrow, and tears.
And when the blizzard finally hits, they hold you tight for all their life is worth. Because your demise will be theirs as well, as a life without you won’t be life at all.
Those are the friends you must keep close.
The rest is chaff.