Misery

(Then, at that moment, the clock behind them
Struck midnight on its bell
And Mephistopheles once more appeared
Shimmering in its knell

Saying, “So, tell me, my dear Ludwig
What did we decide?
Do we have a deal?
Has your end been sealed
Or has it been defied?”

The composer moved not an inch
As he stated his reply
“This music I cannot allow you to take from this world
So it appears you must take I”

“You do not appreciate my kindness,” the Devil said
“No one could offer you more
Your soul is trapped
In fire wrapped
And I’ve given you a door

How could you deny it?
Are you a saint or are you a fool?
Well I’m feeling generous this night
So, once more, I’ll bend the rules

A deal, it is still out there
Just hidden, out of view
So I’ll make one final offer
That will return your soul to you

The compassion you feel for mankind
I perhaps can understand
That your music that has brought such happiness
You cannot remove from the lives of man

But your Tenth Symphony, You’ve just completed
No one else knows it exists
And what mankind has never heard
Mankind will never miss
Believe what I say is true, my friend
It’s as clear as a Judas Kiss

So, give this last song to me
Is it really so much?
To trade so little for your eternal soul
It’s a deal for which you should rush”

Beethoven wavered for a second
Until the ghost of Mozart reappeared
And whispered very quietly
In the Great Beethoven’s ear

“You cannot give this song to him
Though the temptation is very hard
For this is the greatest piece ever written
It is the very voice of God”

Then Mozart faded back into the darkness
But his words had done their work
As Beethoven once more turned down
The offer, no matter how it hurt

“You are a cagey bargainer”
The Devil replied, his voice quite icy cold
“If Judas had you around in thirty-three A.D
His silver pieces just might have been gold
But I’ll make you a final offer
And this one, I swear you must accept
For if you turn it down my friend
Your last offer is death

Your soul is now mine to keep
But I have something else to trade
A jewel that glitters in this night
And it is entirely man made

Walk over to the window
And gaze across the street
At a child lying in the gutter
Where she is trying to gather sleep

But the rain, it will not let her
As it falls both hard and cold
With every drop, a Devil’s prop
Designed to make her old”)

(MEPHISTOPHELES)
There is a child and she sleeps in the gutter
Don't close your eyes and she's easy to see
She is not your child
She's always another's
And those you abandon
They are left to me

And know I will impale her like a knife
Leave her twisting day after day after day of a very short life with me

Listen now closely and hear how I've planned it
Please let me tell you just how it will be

She'll feel the pain but she won't understand it
She'll think it's her fate
But we'll know it's me

And know I will impale her like a knife
Leave her twisting day after day after day of a very short life
With me

So let me know
Have I been clear
That I will magnify each cut and every bruise and every single childhood tear

I'll pick her scabs
Cripple a hand
Push a finger in each wound I make
Now tell me then
Do you understand
You understand?
You understand
You understand?
You understand

And know I will impale her like a knife
Leave her twisting day after day after day of a very short life
With me
With me
With me