Leave me here on island splendor
Never heard or seen again
Washed away in pristine waters
Huron’s stone thrown shores contend
Evening summer rain restrained
Just long enough to run for cover
Recline on porch - Chateau Loraine
With yours and mine and flask of wine
Salty seagulls, guilty geese
The horse drawn streets that offer peace
Majestic in the setting sun
Mac Bridge which spans the Great Divide
Posh dinner at the Carriage House
Where duck is served with strawberries
Then stagger home for good night’s sleep
The daybreak harkens frequent ferries
Aboard belies in back once more
The lure of clean, crisp, rippling shores
Beyond lies U.P. sanctuary
Within the bosom of her bays
Respect to those who lost their lives
Off Whitefish Point and came to rest
At bottom graveyard cold and still
The guardians of Great Lake swells
Superior along the coast
Her beauty calls to have a swim
No hesitation, jump right in
She’s claimed so many souls that way
A rainy stay in old Marquette
The Slipper’s largest, college town
Her better days now long behind
Reminds me of my home - Muskegon
A shot across the starboard bow
We travel west across Wisconsin
And enter long lost Minnesota
Ten thousand lake sung lullabies
South of St. Paul sits Mankato
We cool our heels and sit a spell
The locals argue when we ask
“Pray tell, how far due west is Sioux Falls?”
Quaint, quiet towns along the way
Tyler, New Ulm, Sleepy Eye
Of course we stop in Walnut Grove
Pay homage to the writer Wilder
Near border ‘tween the two great states
There lies a Native pipestone quarry
Red rocks and greens of grasslands fair
These sights bewildering, awe inspiring
Across state lines lies Devil’s Gulch
Where it’s been claimed leapt Jesse James
In order to outrun a mob
The good ones always get away
Parlay in Mitchell, South Dakota
A diamond in the rough we find
Exquisite dining at Chef Louie
The best walleye I’ve ever had
Waltz through the curious Corn Palace
Impressed by color-altered maize
Reds and blues and pinks and greens
Like rainbow schemes in farmer dreams
Down Highway 90 - what a thrill!
Such specks I never knew existed
Blink once to find they’re no mirage
Blink twice to find they’re gone forever
And just when we can take no more
Of prairie fields and miles of nothing
A bantam hint of rock formation
The Badlands on the calm horizon
Dried riverbed of soil deposit
Volcanic ash and sandstone clay
How bizarre and fascinating
This lay of nature’s wonder walls
And bison! Yes! I’ve seen them there!
Carousing on the plains they graze
As hotly tempered prairie dogs
Debate in high-pitched conversation
No trip out west would be complete
Without a trip to tiny Wall
The town made famous for its drug store
Hides the best secret of all
On Main Street sits Cactus Café
Where dark beer drafts are freely poured
The waitress makes me feel a fool
Informing me they call it Moose Drool
Continue passed towns built on ashes
Great warriors who fought and died
I’ve never heard the scream of land
So loud as I did passing Pine Ridge
The poverty round Wounded Knee
It made me weep such useless tears
The Ghost Dance practiced long ago
Still calls to spirits in the hot wind
Onward steaming round the bend
Toward towns with population - ten
Pink granite sculptures loom above
In sweltered heat and hot baked car seats
Solemn faces blankly stare
Out cracked and dusty café windows
Their silent voices seem to say
“We’ve waited here a thousand years”
Eleven miles southwest of Hot Springs
A soothing gem called Cascade Falls
Down the grassy bank we run
And jump into her cool jeweled pool
Our last planned stand in Coyote State
Is in the sleepy town of Custer
Where on the backs of CRAZY HORSEs
We MOUNT up RUSHing MORE toward glory
Hiking in the Black Hills forest
Held church on reverent bluffs that touched
The endless, skyward face of God
Stretched further than the eye could fathom
Returning east on Highway 20
Gun passed Nebraska’s rolling dunes
And sleep inside Sioux City limits
The freight train sings at 4 a.m.
Awake and make tracks for Dubuque
Where there we seek the muddy river
Downtown we dine at Main 180
Fin tuna steaks and Fat Tire beer
Steam down the mighty Mississippi
Oh Twain, you devil, you knew best!
The steamboat’s paddle splash reminds me
Why your soul chose here to rest
Riverbanks turn into fields
Gold waves of grain that yearn for rain
The sun beats amber on the pavement
Full throttle toward sweet home Chicago
Alive with pulsing, city heartbeat
Pumping life into our veins
The sounds of downtown all around
Seductive windy coastline sparkles
The setting skyline reveals it’s time
That we in fact must head on back
To Michigan - the Lonesome Mitten
With our bags packed, we board the Amtrak
Rolling through the same small towns
I’m sure we passed when we were west
So many miles, so little time
But that’s the way it goes, I guess
Awakened by my own convictions
Was it real or just a dream?
I wage a struggle in my mind
And fight against my cynicism
Compared to my own countrymen
I claim "I’ll never be like them!"
And just when I feel most distinct
I’m more like them than what I think.
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