An old man going a lone highway
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and wide and steep,
With waters rolling cold and deep.
The old man crossed in twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man " said a fellow pilgrim
near,
You are wasting your strength with
building here.
Your journey will end with the ending
day,
You never again will pass- this way.
You've crossed the chasm, deep and
wide,
"Why build you this bridge at eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head.
"Good friend, in the path I have come,"
he said.
"There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
The chasm that was as nought to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall
be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight
dim-
Good friend, I am building this bridge
for him."
- W.A. Dromgoole
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