The Bridge Builder

The Bridge Builder - Will Allen Dromgoole

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;

The sullen stream had no fears 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 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."¹

I posted this in honor of poetry month and also because it is one of my favorite poems, which continues to teach me lessons.


During the younger years of my first four children, I would post poems, verses and quotes on their bathroom mirrors.  I would encase them in mylar and rotate them through the different bathrooms.  My hope was they would read them while dressing...teen years brought a lot of time in front of the mirror.


Did it work?  Well, only time will tell if my efforts will bring forth good fruit or not. Maybe the words will come back in due season for each of my adult children.


I hope my gray head has built and is still building bridges for others to one day pass through.  We have the choice to build or tear down. I pray that I have built more than I have torn down.  My hope is founded in the Ultimate Bridge Builder, Jesus Christ.


What is your favorite poem?