TYROLEAN ELEGIES
11
Axle grease at every station,
And exchange of teams:
It were better if Vienna greased
And changed, it seems.
I discovered the good uses
Of the telegraph,
For it heralded our coming
In a lengthy paragraph.
The police, as a doting mother,
Everywhere we drove,
Was prepared for our coming
With a heated stove.
But lest I forget, at Budweiss
Where we stopped to dine,
Dedera bought four stout bottles
Of old Melnik wine.
Was it patriotic feeling,
Moved his thought and hand?
Or hoped he it was the Lethe
From my native land.
Melnik wine I’ve long forgotten
Drink Italian now,
But it seems same restless ferment
Is in both somehow.
