Legacy by Design LLC.
Cultivating Multigenerational Success in the Agricultural Community
Call Us Toll Free: (877) 523-7411
- Sun
- Mon
- Tue
- Wed
- Thu
- Fri
- Sat
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 1
- 2
- 3
- « Jan
Blog
Building a Bridge...
The Bridge Builder
by 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 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 are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"
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 this bridge for him."
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 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 are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"
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 this bridge for him."
Share “The Bridge Builder” (printer-friendly version)
'The Bridge Builder', by Will Allen Dromgoole, is as American as pumpkin pie and Monday Night Football. The poem speaks of our indomitable spirit, and the care we take in preparing the way for a next generation.
As one of Tennessee’s best loved writers, Will Allen Dromgoole is credited with thirteen books, 7,500 poems and 5,000 columns. Born in Murfreesboro October 16, 1860, she graduated from the Clarksville Female Academy in 1876, and studied, in Boston, at the New England School of Expression.
More on Leaving a Legacy:
- A Lesson from the Golden Eggs – Leave a Legacy – February 2008
- How to Know When It’s Time – Leave a Legacy – Mid-November 2009
- A Strategy for the Next Generation – AgDay Clip – January 2009 (4:20 min.)
