Passage #32
1.
Klang– Klang klang– Klang Klang Klang– divide
the hour, whose Klang Klang Klang Klang
precede the count of the church time
in Salzburg. Royal time in Residenz
was chronicled by gilded clocks.
The Chormeister leads his boys
and girls in heavenly praises.
Past the Cathedral organ loft,
a platform shows the Glockenspiel.
The Ländler gladdens my heart.
2.
Forty step into the cable car
up Untersberg. A false summit falls
away as we giddily aaahhhhh!
on seeing the abyss below.
The summit’s knife edge sharpens winds.
Yellow-billed alpine choughs wheel,
ripple out preep preep from their nests
in cliffs, whistle sweeeooo, sweeeooo.
When the king sees crows, the wakened
Charlemagne on Untersberg sleeps.
3.
Capuchin monkeys at the zoo
trill squeaks and shrieks when we approach.
Jostling one another and flapping wings,
flamingoes croak ar-honk! ar-honk!
Non-stop cheeping budgies insist
on maintaining their feeding space.
Nocturnal lynxes, owls nap
amid the din. Their specialty
is stealth. On padded feet, they spring.
With noise-canceling wings, they pounce.
