Charles Lamar Nelson

Oxford, Mississippi, USA

High School Guidance Counselor (retired)/freelance writer/poet. Born June 9, 1917 in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Education: University of Mississippi, B.A., 1946, M.A., 1947. U.S. Navy 1942-45, pharmacist's mate; served in the South Pacific. The poet has always been a friend and admirer of Noble Prize novelist, William Faulkner.

Refuge In Oxford

Such praise, but these scenes are texts of beauty!
There's no painting half so alluring
Nor any depiction by novelist Faulkner
Can array the soul of God without words.
But, why must these things become a creepy dust,
laden with fears, crumbled with tears,
withered frames that are rivets of pain,
A conscience without consciousness of fear.
But, thus, is the formation of such a mental state
in minds that mate,
And this very earth buffets these endearments in
accordance to a given faith:
This invalidism of beauty lies within
And corrugates the soul:
The tentacles of mankind become a medium of love
And Christianity is increased two-hundred fold:
The dogmas of trees contain the wisdom of God
But how many men understand?

The Ravine

The ravine is just beyond the mountain-side
To give the visitor the story of his life in brief:
A study of it at twilight is the solving of a mystery
For the man who knows nature an essential truth.

The Poet

The poet has called his life a spirit
To tell the world, their soul, unfit
Lest, a part of God--intent!
Refuge, the poet flees high,--
For thoughts of gold embarketh there...
And harbors, loveliness, rare!
Thoughts--poetic--favored by God--unwrought!

America's Frontier

All is varied with flowers gay
And the soul, expressive as the sun!
Aloft, carefree, I dream dreams to be
Among the forlorn bones of war-torn frames!
And now, knowing angels as prophetic things
The world of aridity
No longer clings to these myriad dead,--
Whose hearts well knew an American freedom--
A perpetual frontier, forever tread!
And now, brave martyrs' passing
As an immortal record into the minds of men!
Conscious, always alive, within:
Given rise to a constinuous functional America
Whose challenge is the stir of courage
And the remitttance of tears
And a bow of prayer for them.
I record emotion: for I am their poet:
Drenched in sorrow: knowing the repentance of each...
Knowing the depletion of each...
And the dearest decided upon for keeps...
While the vanity of the world swiftly passes away,
And the permanency of the future unfolds
...And the carcasses grow sturdy grasses
Yielding the purpose of life.