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POETRY
Oh Deutschland
Ode to Germany
You’re a meat-and-potatoes kind of place,
And your people have on a perpetual poker face.
With a pastoral landscape of railways, fields, and forests,
Your historical sites are most interesting for tourists.
Whether it’s music or art, you’re the formidable one,
But at times you could afford to have a little more fun.
Because risks of any kind make you chary,
And rules and order keep you from being leery.
It’s said your aging population is the “Old Europe” way,
And that complicated public pension eats up half your pay.
But you’ve got walking and hiking as your veritable bliss,
And Kaffee und Kuchen, which you sure can’t miss.
With plenty of German holidays for celebration,
You’re a culturally proud but cynical nation,
That’s never afraid of too much bread and Wuerst,
With diehard soccer fans who only want first.
So you can export cars like they’re going out of style,
But how come you can’t board a train in a single file?
High unemployment rates and debates on minimum wages?
You still got those enchanting Christmas markets for people of all ages.
