Together

Old mule, my body

you are the one

I tow along with me

down this unfamiliar path:

stubborn as ever

you pick your way

on worn hooves

hocks knocking together

one eye gone milky

whiskers sprouting

all over your chin.

Together we go on

plowing the one deep furrow

in a long field that tapers

from broad to narrow.

Moving steadily where

the going’s easy, more slowly

among tussocks

and half-buried rocks.

At times it seems you

take the lead, at times it’s me

that’s pushing step by step

through the heavy loam,

the matted grasses.

And then, too, sometimes

we have to come to a halt—

when I need to admire

a grasshopper or when you

decide to stop and gaze

at some wonder only you

can see, hovering there

at the edge of the woods.

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