Zeitgeistlyrik: A Waltz With You (Satis Shroff)

A WALTZ WITH YOU (Satis Shroff)

Ah, the sound of Vienna begins.

I execute a perfect circular waltz,

With you in a gown

And I in tails,

After the pre-ball sekt.

It’s amazing how even teenagers

Go voluntarily to learn

How to waltz,

And how to kiss a lady’s hands,

Impeccably.

I learned it at socials

Organised by the nuns of St. Helen’s

And the Christian Brothers of Ireland.

When the ‘ladies choice’ was announced

By the Master of Ceremonies,

You could feel the adrelanin

Surging in your young blood.

It helps to develop your self-confidence,

In a society where balls are a way of life.

But a waltz in Vienna,

Is a legacy of Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph.

Strauss and Mozart rule the dancing floors.

In palaces, concert halls, posh hotels,

The 19th century Sofiensaal.

 You dance in your polished best,

For the Viennese or your society.

The art of formal greeting,

Bowing, hand-kissing,

How to ask for a dance,

And how to introduce people.

Correct Viennese etiquette is well-seen:

Küss die Hand gnädige Frau,

You look so lovely tonight.

The ambient, the rustling silk clothes,

The moving violins, the pricking sekt,

And the swirls whirl you

To another baroque world.

VIENNA’S BIG HEART (Satis Shroff)

At the Musikverein’s Golden Hall,

In Vienna with you,

Listening to the renowned singers and solists,

All wearing costumes and white wigs, from the baroque era,

With operatic overtures

From Mozart’s times.

To enjoy melodies from the baroque era,

With operatic overtures, arias and amorous duets.

A promenade with you,

In the summer residence of the Habsburgs,

To admire and inhale the aroma

Of the roses in the palace gardens

Of Schönbrunn.

Sauntering along Prince Eugen von Savoyen’s Belvedere,

The exquisite baroque architecture,

Or admiring the works of Schiele,

Kokoschka, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh.

The fragrant smell of Edelweiss,

Gentians and Alpine roses,

From the Alpine Gardens.

Albetina in the heart of Vienna,

With its imperial pomp and paintings,

From Monet, Manet to Picasso.

Watching the morning exercise

Of the white Lipizzaner horses,

In the Spanish Riding School.

Yes, the very ones King Birendra also wanted to possess,

Before he was killed by his own son.

The imperial palaces,

Art rooms, ballrooms and flourishing gardens

Evoke a touch of decadence,

Preserved by the bourgeois society.

In the streets during the day,

There are beggars from the former East Bloc,

But also Austrians among them,

Who have fallen through the social net,

Sleeping in public parks.

Demonstrations of the Kurds,

Against the bombardments of the PKK,

And Erdogan’s Turkish power politics.

Austrians taking shots at asylum seekers,

Who have reached 80,000.

A dangerous angst against asylum seekers spreads,

The fear of loss of Austrian identity.

Austria took 90,000 war refugees from the Balkankrieg,

Another 90,000 in the Hungarian revolt.

Vienna has indeed a big heart.