What a What a strangling knot to be in To be here To be stuck in Berlin with Vienna so Yet so far the Emperor's ear a strange and impossible sum To be old while to be so young To have sung before a word To be To be Then to To be To love but to be so To and to be so deceived To mourn, forlorn, to be torn you for another who suffers no grief To curse God, seeking And to be ignored To hide in room, now too rich to afford To hear of creditors bang at the door Always yelling for And to have nothing to that could help Except for the Steinway that in the corner
For Arthur it all came too To learn the scales in key To play the and the suites The nocturnes and The To the sonatas, minuets, and symphonies To the truth fits and starts To strike the middle F like it's an arrow the heart To wing the right hand a dove
(the peaceful flutter of a dove) And with a violent shove
(some moments will demand a shove) To needle gently yet relentless with a steady foot the pedal And to clench the iron first inside the velvet To to whisper and to scream (the whisper the scream) To let each yearning finger (no, lives unless it breathes) To burn, to worship, to To pose a question a pinky on a key To flee, to fight, to To in air solid underneath To rap those heavy knuckles on the to heaven til there's nothing to Achieve, but To go retrieve the length of cable hidden in the To metamorphasize the twisted rope unto an To lay the C upon the shabby wooden floor to rest To the end across the top and bend the C into an S To curve the tail beneath the S to turn the to a B To hug the wretched root the fibers suffocatingly To wrap again to wrap again to give the seven loops To the yawning hoop To tug the loose appendage To the knot until it's ready for the job
it's got to do To toss the braid above the beam and to affix the noose To bid adieu to all of you
until nothing left to do but the chair To cinch the the edge To step the air