An old man going a lone highway

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide.

The old man crossed at twilight dim~

The sullen stream had no fears for him.

But he turned, when safe on the other side,

And built a bridge to stem the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,

"You are wasting your time with building here.

Your journey will end with the closing day.

You have crossed the chasm deep and wide,

You never again will pass this way~

Why build you this bridge at evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old grey head;

"Good friend in the way I have come, "he said,

"There followeth after me today

A youth whose feet must pass this way

This stream that has been as naught to me,

To the fair-haired youth might a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim.~

Good Friend,

I AM BUILDING THE BRIDGE FOR HIM."