An old man, going a lone highway, came at the evening,
cold and gray, to a chasm, vast and deep and wide, through
which was flowing a sullen tide.

 The old man crossed in the twilight dim - that sullen stream
had no fears for him, but he turned when he reached the other
side, and built a bridge to span the sullen tide.

 "Old Man", said a fellow pilgrim near, "You are wasting strength
in building here. Your journey will end with the ending day; you
never again must pass this way. You have crossed the chasm, deep
and wide, why build you the 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. This chasm that has been naught to me, to
that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be. He, too, must cross in
twilight dim; good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

               by: Wm. Allen Dromgoole