by Karie Loomis
Ox spent his life working the wheat field.
Never receiving benefit of its yield.
Year after year, wheat did grow.
For whom, Ox did not know.
Ox loved a human. The one he called master.
The man usually kind, no matter the disaster.
Time past. Ox not as strong.
Took all his will to keep along.
Then one day,
As Ox worked away,
Master came home with a tractor.
Poor Ox no longer a factor.
His whole life he’d worked for the man.
Without understanding the end plan.
Simply dismissed. Sent away.
Nothing left for Ox to say.
Scared and alone, wanting to die.
But no, continue on he must try.
Then one day,
Ox found his way.
As he walked upon a great green pasture.
Within the fence, there, he saw her.
Horse looked up from her grazing.
Saw Ox. Holy shit. Amazing!
“Where you from,” she said. “Finally you’re here.”
“It’s a long story,” he said. “I endured fear.”
Horse had waited a long while.
After a life of error and trial.
Many moments, she had been weak.
But failed to find someone with whom she could speak.
Finally, the time had arrived.
For both their pasts to be archived.
Ox, the one, she’d been waiting for.
In him she recognized all that’d been missing and more.
What a blessing. A perfect match.
At the barn, she opened the door latch.
For dinner she led him to her stall.
He couldn’t believe, wheat from his field he saw!
Nourishment his love had been eating,
All the while dreaming of their meeting.