David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS: “It’s Too Late When We Die.”(Words from the son...

David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS:

“It’s Too Late When We Die.”
(Words from the son...: “It’s Too Late When We Die.” (Words from the song, The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics) I stretched out my trembling ...

“It’s Too Late When We Die.”

(Words from the song, The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics)

I stretched out my trembling hand to wake him from deep sleep. I grasp his bony biceps and felt mush where powerful muscles once tightened the tissue. I swallowed and gathered strength to speak.

“Dad, I have to go now. I love you.”

His eyes never opened and in a whisper he said. “I love you too, David.”

Those were the last words my dad ever said to me. It was at the Veterans’ Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa. I returned to my home in Florida and to the life I made for myself as a physical therapist.

Ten days later I was flying back to Iowa to say good-bye to his body. He was in his mid fifties and dead from cancer. I stood before his casket and thanked him for his words of love spoken days before.

For that was only the second time he ever said he loved me. Each of those times occurred after he beat the demons of alcoholism. I never would have thought years prior that such a kind heart lived in the chest of the man who pulverized me from age eight until age seventeen.

I was whipped with both ends of a belt, kicked with steel-toed work boots, slapped, punched and pinched on what seemed like a regular occurrence. I was once locked away in a darkened, hot stairwell that connected our cellar to the backyard above. I was in that tomb for some sixteen hours with no food or water. I had only spiders and cockroaches to keep me company in the pitch blackness. That was the day I lost my childhood. I was eight-years old.

Dad quit drinking years later, his personality changed, his persona changed and his wicked heart was filled with love. Then he became sick. There was so much I wanted to say. There were so many things I wanted the two of us to do together. But, he became sick. I never told him how proud I was of him. I never told him he was one of my heroes. I regret that. 

He appealed to the better angels and they listened. Both of us listened and we became friends. But then he became ill.

I am now decades older than that day when I stood next to him in the hospital when we shared our hearts and our love. I say to you, the reader, speak your heart now, because, “It’s too late when we die.”

My book, “The Shade Tree Choir” tells my story of physical and emotional child abuse.  All of my books speak to this topic is some fashion.

www.davidnelsonauthor.com

Listen to the song about a boy and his father.

https://youtu.be/uGDA0Hecw1k

David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS: David Nelson announces the release of his new book...

David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS: David Nelson announces the release of his new book...: David Nelson announces the release of his new book, “Art From The Heart.” He combines his storytelling and poetry talents with each piece ...

David Nelson announces the release of his new book, “Art From The Heart.” He combines his storytelling and poetry talents with each piece of black & white art. It will be up to you to determine if what he says is fact or fiction. Nelson in the Cowboy Poet Laureate of Tennessee and performs across America. He has now added a love of drawing to his other crafts.

Nelson has authored numerous books about growing up in his hometown of Dubuque, Iowa. Some of his drawings are from his childhood home in the Midwest.

Books may be order through his website at www.davidnelsonauthor.com “Art From The Heart” is $20 plus shipping.

Here is a sampling of one of the numerous pieces found in my book.

Amish Buggy

I leaned against a fence in grassy field and wondered of this cart’s history.

If the seat and wheels could talk, they’d tell me a great mystery.

Oh, imagine roads less travelled on a quiet sunny day,

And the clopping gait of horse in front and the music from his neigh.

In younger days, the driver made that horse obey and also had her hustle.

With reins in hand, the old man slumps and hardly moves a muscle.

One day the buggy lost its use and was hauled here by the wife.

She climbed upon the seat and dwelled on memories and on life.

The old cracked leather echoed splats from tears that day she cried.

The buggy lost its partners the day the horse and old man died.

David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS: Republican Criteria for President

David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS: Republican Criteria for President: Republicans Debate Republican candidate, Donald Trump bragged about his penis size during the debate on March 3, 2016. What have we come ...

Republican Criteria for President

Republicans Debate


Republican candidate, Donald Trump bragged about his penis size during the debate on March 3, 2016. What have we come to in American politics?

This is for any of you men thinking of running for President. It is short and sweet - no pun intended

"If I ran for President"

You won't be elected if you run for President.
Even if you're born here and are a resident.

It's not lies caught by Fact Checker.
It's because you have a little pecker.

David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS: The Public School Advantage

David Nelson, Author & Cowboy Poet | PALS: The Public School Advantage: My childhood friend wrote the following article. It is re-printed here with his permission. Dave Markward is considered an authority figure ...