The Carabao`s Prayer

To thee, my master, I offer my prayer.

Feed me and care for me and when the day`s work is done, provide me with shelter. Give me clean, cool water to drink, cool water to bathe in I cannot tell you in words when I am sick; So watch me that by signs you may know my condition.

Always be kind to me. Talk to me. Your voice often means as much to me as the line, Pet me sometimes, that I may serve you the more gladly, and learn to love you.

Do not jerk the line nor tie it, so it will cut into my flesh, or tear my nose or my head. Never strike, beat, or kick me when I do not understand you. Watch me, and if I fail to do your bidding, see it something is not wrong with me.

Do not overwork me. I try to do your work and carry your heavy burdens without a murmur. See that I do not perform the work of two. And protect my crest, but without the power to choose the load or path my neck is badly bruised.

And finally, oh my master, never sell me to a cruel owner to be worked and starved to death. And if, oh my master, you wish to take my life, do so in the kindest way, and your God will reward you here and hereafter.

Amen.

From The Plowman, October - November 1949 (Reprinted from



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