Vienna

(The composer then looked at the child
Who smiled but did not speak
And then the child faded into the dark of the past
Where the darkness is always deep

And Beethoven turned back to Fate
Who had always been close by
And told her what he wanted changed
So his fate could be defied

“I did not need a teacher
Who taught with the back of his hand
While the music I was dreaming
He could never understand”

“These moments of your life I’ll change” Fate says
“But there is a warning I must give
That to change one moment of a life
Can change how that life is lived

Like the gears inside a clock
Every moment turns another
Remove from a wall a single block
And sometimes that entire wall will shudder

The pain you felt through childhood
Would now seem to have no worth
But it was the salve you sought to ease that pain
That gave your Sixth Symphony birth

So, before I grant this wish
And this tale you later tell
Know that these wounds will disappear
But so will your Sixth Symphony, as well

So now that you know all that will be changed
Including things far out of view
When your decision has been made
Tell me what it is you would have me do?”

Fate did not have long to wait
The answer was clear upon his face
His childhood would retain its tears
And his sixth symphony would retain its place

Fate then said they should move on
For their time was growing short
And then asked where he had been happiest?
And she watched as he followed that thought

For a moment there was a glitter
Somewhere beyond his stare
In a time when days were not bitter
And she found Vienna there

Which brings us all, my friends
To the next chapter in our story
As they watched Beethoven as a young man
Arriving in Vienna with all its glory)

(BEETHOVEN)
Since I was a child
I've seen her in a dream
A captured fairy tale
That echoes ‘cross my life

And though I've courted her
She's always stayed unseen
Now all at once she
Glitters in the night

But that was yesterday
And that all was before
When she was far away
A silhouette of dreams

But others whispered
That she was so much more
And suddenly I now
Know what they mean

Dreams change
Years strain
Lost illusions
Last stands
God's hand
Absolution
Found

Fairy tale sins
Visions by Grimm
All forgiven
Lives spent in vain
Never reclaimed
Take their final bows

Pictures and words
Visions absurd
Maddened poets
All within sight
Failures in life
Who'll never know it
Lazarus cries
There in his eyes
Hope has risen
Depth and facade
All before me now

Vienna