Schubert was smart.
He used second-rate poets
to write his big song cycles
so the poems
wouldn’t compete
with the music.
A first-rate poem
slows you down
to think and savor.
Müller’s Winterreise
is just good enough
to tell the story
and let the music
make it bigger.
Yes,
Schubert was smart,
and I miss him.
I wish he didn’t die
so early,
didn’t let syphilis get him
in those days
when people thought
they could live forever
and didn’t need precautions.
Not enough has changed
since then
and no one writes
better music.