Old man, said a fellow pilgrim near,
You are wasting strength with 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 the 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 the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.
— Will Allen Dromgoole, The Bridge Builder
