"I cannot die upon this night"
The composer did protest
"For I must complete my Tenth Symphony
Before my final rest"
Backwards
Till he fell into his chair
And searched his mind for a reply
But there were no answers there
And the Devil said "I see
That your mind is quite confused
So I will return here in one hour
For the answer that you choose
And you can tell me then
What you will keep and what you will lose
The hands of the clock rotate backwards from midnight to eleven PM.
So tell me now what do you fear
What do you love or hold too dear
Is it death well wrapped in pain?
Or perhaps it's no one will remember your name?
If this is so, perhaps I cannot win
But then add pride onto your other sins
I am not trying to pressure you
I know you cannot decide yet
But nothing focuses the mind my friend
Like the approach of one's own death"
And as he turned to disappear
Into his personal abyss
Beethoven called for him to wait
For something was now amiss
The hands upon the clock
It seems were moving much too fast
And at this rate his hour gift
Would not an hour last
"Consider it a final act of kindness"
Over his shoulder the Devil did call
"Because where you are going my dear Ludwig
The clocks they never, move, at all"
Mephistopheles disappears back into the abyss through a hole in the floor that opens up to receive him.
With Mephistopheles gone
The spirits silently crept back
And watched the great composer agonize
Over the time that he now lacked
So in this room now filled with shadows
Beethoven stood quite alone
And contemplated how to save
The one thing he truly ever owned
Could all the wisdom he had found
Like so many leaves upon the ground
Combine with all his dreams and sins
And on this night be scattered to the wind
For of our faith they are so insistent
With gods who are so inconsistent
And if we are to further delve
Into this night and find ourselves
Might we discover in our past
What in our lives might one day last
The composer did protest
"For I must complete my Tenth Symphony
Before my final rest"
Backwards
Till he fell into his chair
And searched his mind for a reply
But there were no answers there
And the Devil said "I see
That your mind is quite confused
So I will return here in one hour
For the answer that you choose
And you can tell me then
What you will keep and what you will lose
The hands of the clock rotate backwards from midnight to eleven PM.
So tell me now what do you fear
What do you love or hold too dear
Is it death well wrapped in pain?
Or perhaps it's no one will remember your name?
If this is so, perhaps I cannot win
But then add pride onto your other sins
I am not trying to pressure you
I know you cannot decide yet
But nothing focuses the mind my friend
Like the approach of one's own death"
And as he turned to disappear
Into his personal abyss
Beethoven called for him to wait
For something was now amiss
The hands upon the clock
It seems were moving much too fast
And at this rate his hour gift
Would not an hour last
"Consider it a final act of kindness"
Over his shoulder the Devil did call
"Because where you are going my dear Ludwig
The clocks they never, move, at all"
Mephistopheles disappears back into the abyss through a hole in the floor that opens up to receive him.
With Mephistopheles gone
The spirits silently crept back
And watched the great composer agonize
Over the time that he now lacked
So in this room now filled with shadows
Beethoven stood quite alone
And contemplated how to save
The one thing he truly ever owned
Could all the wisdom he had found
Like so many leaves upon the ground
Combine with all his dreams and sins
And on this night be scattered to the wind
For of our faith they are so insistent
With gods who are so inconsistent
And if we are to further delve
Into this night and find ourselves
Might we discover in our past
What in our lives might one day last