The Ox and the Old Man

The old man leans on his staff, and the ox faces him. For a lifetime, they tilled the land together. In spring they went out to the fields together, in summer they endured the heat together, in winter they rested under the same eaves. They never exchanged a word. The ox could not speak, and the old man was a man of few words. When the ox's steps slowed, the old man rested first; when the old man's back bent, the ox stopped first. So they walked side by side through one lifetime. Now both are old. The fields have grown fewer, and their steps have slowed. But the way they face each other is just as it was in their youth. That is enough.