wes</p><p>and i</p><p>worked</p><p>together</p><p>summers long</p><p>baling hay</p><p>moved from</p><p>farm to farm</p><p>and back again</p><p>in the neighborhood</p><p>gray haired</p><p>beneath a</p><p>sweat stained</p><p>straw hat</p><p>he was wiry</p><p>tossed bales</p><p>higher</p><p>than could i</p><p>wore long sleeves</p><p>cuffs buttoned</p><p>regardless of</p><p>the temperature</p><p>blew his nose</p><p>into an ever present</p><p>red handkerchief</p><p>never on the ground</p><p>come mondays</p><p>it was always clean</p><p>wife gone </p><p>to the city</p><p>he lived in</p><p>a tenant house</p><p>land lorded</p><p>by the richest man</p><p>who owned</p><p>the baler</p><p>daily</p><p>at noon</p><p>the crew</p><p>broke for</p><p>dinner</p><p>fixed by</p><p>the women</p><p>all of us</p><p>ate on</p><p>the front porch</p><p>except him</p><p>he filled</p><p>a plate</p><p>last</p><p>carried it</p><p>around back</p><p>sat on </p><p>the kitchen steps</p><p>must have</p><p>wanted</p><p>to be</p><p>alone</p><p>saturday nights</p><p>i never saw him</p><p>at the show</p><p>or pool hall</p><p>where i</p><p>hung out</p><p>his last name</p><p>was stone</p><p>although nobody</p><p>called him</p><p>by that</p><p>wish i had said</p><p>mister stone</p><p>at least once</p><p>in the company</p><p>of others</p><p>now during</p><p>sleepless</p><p>old man hours</p><p>the quarterbacks</p><p>point guards</p><p>pitching stars</p><p>on my fantasy</p><p>ball teams</p><p>are named</p><p>wes stone</p><p>we go</p><p>undefeated</p><p> h.</p><p>Hubert Neth, a United Methodist pastor, has been a contributor to the Journal for more than 20 years.