Beethoven towers
over me, so heavily
how could I contemplate
writing a symphony?

No Promethean
am I, puny -
'twas my struggle
endlessly, musically

to have written four-
the future will judge me
whether I stood equal
to Beethoven the All-Mighty

to my beloved Schumann
I owe an eternal duty
but for his tutelage
I'd but appear a mere footage in history