My America

I often think of my America,
and the lives that made her.
The men and women who
worked themselves to death
just so their children
would survive.

I think of how the blood
in my veins, is their blood–
how the blood on their hands,
is my blood. And how their
tears remain in some mystic
way, my tears.

America is the land of so many
unnecessary regrets, and far
too many aching goodbyes.
America is the land of orphans
and refugees. America is a
gathering of strangers.

America is longing to come home
to a place that never existed.
A home always just one day away.
A home in myth and expectation
that cannot be found. It must
be imagined.

There is no coming home to America.
My people are scattered like clouds.
Those who share my blood
cannot share my story. My home
is on the other side of the river,
and I will be crossing over soon.

© Chris Ernest Nelson 2021

Alone with itself

I have had enough of name-calling and blame.
I have had enough of ignorance and hate.
I have had enough of lies and censorship.
I have had enough of us-versus-them.

I will surrender myself to knowing
that the truth is deeper than
mortal mind can delve.
Truth is utterly quiet.
Truth is content,
alone with
itself.


© Chris Ernest Nelson 2021

I will take it with me.

I will take it with me,
all the pains and desires,
the terrors and the magic,
the longing and laughter.

When they dig up my bones,
they’re not going to know
what it was all about,
nor why it was. 

But so long as there is
someone, somewhere,
living and loving, I will
be living and loving.

So long as there is
someone who feels alone
in the company of his lover,
I will not be alone.

Love isn’t enough to live on
when there is nothing to
love without losing touch
with myself.

© Chris Ernest Nelson 2021

The work of a lifetime

The world is a stage where one of the
uncountable dramas in the theater of
Creation is performed – live before an
exuberant and credulous audience.

Finding truth is the work of a lifetime.
The first truth, upon which all others
stand, is we are subject to our own
perspective and our own experience.

The One Perfect Truth is revealed only
when we learn to rise above our own
perspective and our own experience
to find our selves in Pure Being.

There we become the blessing beyond
the vanishing point, where infinite and
private perspectives meet together
celebrating what is right and good.

© Chris Ernest Nelson 2021