October Tale
OCTOBER TALE
Go south and follow the sun’s traverse
As it heads t’ward Capricorn
When days and nights are in equipoise
And slight chills happily born
Go beyond the wide stream where Siegfried roved
Past the dark forest’s sylvan span
You then will arrive where Mad Ludvig dreamed
In Bavaria’s beauteous land
Where the earth undulates in verdant waves
Then soars to snowy incline
There Lies the fair city of Munich, much loved
By devotees of barley wine
It was there we came one day long past
Not for feasting on Isar’s bank
But to bring greater mathematical power
To the Institute of Max Plank
Full many there came at that season to savour
The music, the ale, the carousing
So there was no room for us at the inns
We must go beyond for our housing
From satellite town we drove one night
To the heart of the celebrations
Where we lifted big steins and swayed and sang
With numerous libations
‘Till the sky was long dark and the moon shone pale
Through the mist that rose from the field
Then we set forth again to our transient home
Lest the sun should find us revealed
My colleague drove and I with a map
upon my knee, directed
At a crossing wide I called - ‘Go Left!’
The result was not as expected
The new road that we were now upon
Looked fine on first inspection
But then we saw all cars save ours
Advanced in reverse direction
‘We’re on the wrong side!’was my next cry
‘Cross over to the right！’
The driver quickly followed my word
So we might survive that night
As we moved again on our altered path
Still progressing on true course vector
We began to vibrate and oscillate
To a vertical misdirector
With a bumpety bump and a jolt and a jar
We soon perceived, jeepers creepers！
That the track we were on was the permanent one
Made of steel, two rails on sleepers
Just one more correction should put us right
We’d be on the right road, on our way
But then half way on and half way off
We were caught like a lion’s buffet
With wheels a-spinning on slippery rail
I pushed with might and main
And with efforts having but little avail
I looked up, down the line, saw a train
Now was this a time for a stiff upper lip
Or was it a time to panic
The dilemma resolved by the advent of
A miracle Germanic
For out of the mist like a phantom craft
A vehicle appeared, came to rest
Four young men ejected, took one corner each
Restored car to a roadway blest
Then with smiles and waves and a Bayerische ‘Gruss Gott’
They vanished into the night
Two more foolish Octoberfest travellers were saved
From a well known Eisenbahn plight
So that’s how we survived to tell the tale
Of peril, no moonshine!
On one chill misty October night in Bayern
We drove up the railway line
