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The
Bridgebuilder
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 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 will pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm deep and wide.
Why build you a bridge at this eventide?"
The builder lifted his old grey 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 the twilight dim;
Good friend, I'm building the bridge for him".
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