Beethoven’s Ears

Beethoven's Ears

 

He had to keep "conversation books"

so others could write him,

yet he would compose

the 9th Symphony

while completely deaf.

 

His relationships failed.

People laughed at him in the street

as he blundered past in silence.

He never heard the divine music

he created.

Someone had to turn him around

so he could see the audience's

standing ovation.

 

We were in Japan one winter,

my wife one of the four soloists

of the same symphony

they perform all over the country

to celebrate the season.

It elevated us

again, that "Ode to Joy."

 

What kind of Universe is this

where one man can give so much joy

to so many

and not claim it for himself

unless he could hear the music

in his mind's ear?

What compassionate God

would invent such a situation?

They say he might have died

of lead poisoning,

who lifted us, weighed down

by heavy metal.

�"Gary S.