Switzerland.(Poem)

 
SWITZERLAND 
 
   1. 
 
   A sure-fire hit with every train, 
   this slow slide down the Brenner Pass: 
 
   fir trees, meadows, early snow, 
   it's all a postcard seen through glass 
 
   and somewhere too The Sound of Music ... 
   What is it that we really see? 
 
   The archaeology of childhood? 
   The way that scenery's meant to be? 
 
   2. 
 
   The landscape's newly washed and mown. 
   Our small train's curving quietly through it. 
 
   The day is green and lyrical; 
   the cattle thoughtfully re-chew it. 
 
   The Appenzell is done to scale; 
   its cows obey electric fences; 
 
   the firewood's neatly stacked for winter 
   and time is stalled between its tenses. 
 
   3. 
 
   The bells of Swiss towns know their mind 
   and firmly measure out the day, 
 
   dividing each hour into quarters 
   and telling you it's time to pray 
 
   or stir yourself to catch the train 
   or give your kids their first commands. 
 
   Catholic or Zwinglian, 
   the bells are strict in their demands. 
 
   4. 
 
   Switzer cows, contentedly, 
   contemplate electric wire. 
 
   The Swiss consider them, it's clear, 
   a paradigm for all desire, 
 
   for what one can or cannot do 
   and where the law could prove quite tough. 
 
   The shock the cows get on the ...