view from the minster bridge @ zurich switzerland Copyright Toni_V
st.peterCopyright Toni_V
in my memories
sitting on
a buttress outside Sankt
Peterskirche on a damp evening
listening to Chopin
Nocturnes tinkling
down
from someone's open window
to mix their melancholy notes
with the cool drizzle my
City still surrounds
me and
Muesch halt echli uufpasse, mir fahred jetz wider ab!Copyright Toni_V
i can
summon the metallic
sound and bell
of the No.7 as it rumbles
through Wollishofen not
the new rubberized digital copies
but the masterpieces with
the wooden seats the polite
riders their quiet
watchfulness
window with a fine viewCopyrightToni_V
i can take a walk
over Muensterbrueck and sit
by the fountain wherefrom
only the medieval stone
work can be seen all
around where on
Sundays mostly
one hears only the murmur of Limmat
and the mournful bells
of Grossmuenster, Fraumuenster, and
all the others in the distance
tolling a constant peaceful
neverending echo of proclamation
and demure worship
münsterbrücke @ zurich switzerlandCopyright Toni_V
some days
i am Frederick’s alter ego
for his was exile from
his birthright
where i am exiled to
the bitter country
of my birth which
eats its own slowly
resolutely
zurich@2007-12-27
Copyright Toni_V
so far from the
beautiful communitas
of Zueri uuf die See
Zurich on the lake singing
to me like
a woman sings and
teaching me the fallacy of
inheritance – that where one was
born does not imply
who or what one
will love nor
how deep
the loss
Oof! It took me much longer to write this than it looks. I had to recode a lot of this entry manually, and I switched images several times.
Speaking of which, I owe a great deal to Toni_V for giving me permission to use his images from his photostream on Flickr. I accidentally ran across his work when googling shots of Zurich for one of my friends, and I was deeply moved and inspired by it. The very artful use of colour in his photography is to me very similar to memory and dream; where is your happy place? what colour is it? Toni's presentation of the city through HDR photography, capturing hues that are not possible in the drabness of real life, evoke fable and myth - one almost feels that a knight or an 18th century noble will come turning round a corner.
I'm not sure I like my poem very much... but it's what came out when I saw these photos. Longing, I suppose, more than anything else; for a place that is not only far away but, to me, lost in time. To the Zurich I learned to know and love, I can never go back.
If you have time, go to Toni_V's photostream and check out his collections. There are some truly stunning pictures there.
... and by all means, click on the pictures above to see the full size versions. The thumbnails don't do them justice.
Toni...Ich danke dir wider viel mals!
p.-
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