Bewitching My Mind (Rev.) 4.5.2009 Poem by Margaret Alice

Topgear - BBC, an Italian-made Alfa favourite
instead of cool German-engineered cabriolets
even if handles fall off the temperamental
Alfa and the car won’t stop

For sheer passion and driving exhilaration
even as it falls apart - reminding of Guareschi’s
tale, a passionate mechanic, Peppone, down-
trodden in WW II by a nasty Lieutenant

now a struggling salesman with broken-down
car, needing Peppone’s help - offering a chance
for revenge, but Peppone’s love for all things
mechanical had him restore the car for free

An emotional decision by the fiery Italian
temperament, story forever embedded in my
mind, I LOVE the Italian spirit symbolized
in Grand Prix Ferrari’s exploits through history

Manifest in opera, Puccini’s Madame Butterfly
sobbing over her little boy before she dies, Verdi’s
tragic Aida and desperate La Traviata - enchanting
Italian temperament illustrated by Alfa’s infamy

bewitching my mind…