Category: Poetry Poetry by Various
This is an archive of the collected works of a 92 year old poet with an extraordinary experience. Clive Haswell was born in Honor, MI, West of Traverse City in 1916. By the time of the start of the Great Depression, Clive managed to leave home with his father's blessing to go out and find out what it would be to explore the West. He managed to stow away on a box car heading across Lake Michigan from Frankfort to a port in Wisconsin and was a hobo for four years! Living by his wits and a good game of poker, Clive was big enough and strong enough to survive. His poems are heavily reflective of his life long wanderlust.

THINGS NEAR BY V
and
Other Verse

by
Clive W. Haswell
the
frustrated Rover

for
Anne

(Started Mar 22,l985)


THINGS NEAR BY

I sit and watch the Sunset
Out across the inland sea,
I think about the places
I have been and long to be.

I have walked the shores of Java
Where it's hot enough to bake,
But I've never toured Wisconsin
Which is just across the lake.

I've walked Hadrian's Wall in Britain
But,to admit this fact I hate,
I've never seen Fort Wilkins
And it's right here in this state.

I've been to see Victoria Falls
With all it's mist and spray,
But I've not been to Taquamenon,
Not three hundred miles away.

I've been out to Bermuda
And stayed for quite a spell,
But I've not been to South Manitou,
Almost close enough to yell.

I walked Sahara's sand dunes
When I far away did roam,
But not the dunes of Indiana
Which are fairly close to home.

I've walked the Blue Ridge mountains
Which, I'll grant, are fair to see,
But I've not been to the Porcupines
Which are in Michigan's UP.

I've been to Greek Acropolis
Like a picture on a card,
But not to Greenfield Village
Practically in my back yard.

I can go to see South Manitou
On most any summer day,

But I never got around to it
My thoughts were always far away.

I could go to see Fort Wilkins
And include the Porcupines,
Could pack it all into a week
And still have lots of time.

I sit and watch the setting sun
As it sinks into the lake,
Decide I'll see some things nearby
Before it is too late.


I'VE BEEN THERE

She said, "You should see spring in Paris.
It's something that you should not miss.
There is nothing else quite like it.
It is bound to bring you bliss."
I said, "I've been there."

He said, "Go spend some time in Spain.
See Madrid, Bull Fights and all.
And you'd ought to spend a winter
On the famed Costa del Sol."
I said, "I've been there."

One said, "I've just come from Egypt,
Where I spent some little while.
Saw the Sphinx and the Pyramids
And went boating on the Nile."
I said, "I've been there."

Then someone said, "The Holy Land
Is a place that all should see.
It would make your faith much stronger.
That's what it did for me."
I said, "I've been there."

He said, "Why don't you go to India?
Go and see the Taj Mahal.
Then travel farther northward
And see the Himalayas tall."
I said, "I've been there."

They kept talking about the places
This one and that one knew,
And of the places they had been.
They were a widely traveled crew.
Mostly I said, "I've been there."


More to come here