What's in the Water in Midland, Texas?

Submitted by David White

I commend all our peers who have contributed to make the “Water Drinkers” blog possible. It has been fun writing my stories and reading our fellow drinkers’ stories. Today, I want to share a story about a special person that came before us, but would certainly have been an honored member of the “Water Drinkers”—A.C. Wheat Jr.

Known to many of us as Charlie, he moved to Midland at age 12. He worked his way through high school, college and law school as a roughneck in the oil field. After graduating Midland High School in 1949, he attended the University of Texas in Austin, graduating from law school there in 1955. He returned to Midland in 1956 to work the legal department of Shell Oil Company, where he worked until 1974, when he opened his solo law practice, which he continued to his death in 2003. Prior to his death, Charlie gave a copy of the attached poem that he had written. I wanted to share the poem with all the “Water Drinkers” because it is as relevant today as it was when Charlie wrote it in 1963. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

LIFE

It’s the glow of a star, the scent of a rose,
The sorrow of war and death’s sweet repose.
It’s the wonder of birth, the mystery of fate;
It’s laughter and mirth, misery and hate.

It’s the sweet taste of rain to a field long in drought,
And waiting in vain, and doing without.
It’s the warmth of the sun driving frost from the seed;
It’s the harm that is done by one thoughtless deed.

It’s being so young and running to play,
And being unsung as the years fade away.
It’s the strength of your stand in what you believe;
It’s the grip of your hand to a friend who’s in need.

It’s to savor the taste of working the land,
With a grin on your face for the dirt on your hands.
It’s the might and the girth of this land of the free;
It’s the right of your birth to be what you’ll be.

It’s wondrous to travel, the pathway of life,
From which will unravel both sweetness and strife.
From the gentle sublime, to ridiculous flair,
It’s the mountain you climb just because it is there.

From the time of your youth, when the world is your own,
To that moment of truth, when your years have flown,
It’s what’s on your ledger when the Lord takes his audit,
Of just what you treasured, and just how you sought it.

© By A. C. Wheat, Jr., written January 4, 1963

Rest in Peace my friend,

David