The Old Man

An old man going, a lone highway,
Came in the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm deep and wide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear 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’re wasting your strength building here.
Your journey will end at ending day
You’ll never again pass this way.

You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide
Why build you this bridge of eventide?
The builder lifted his old gray head
Good friend I’ve come in the path, he said.
There cometh after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been naught to me
To this fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He too must pass in the twilight dim.
Good friend I’m building this bridge for him.

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.