As she plays
the Schubert
piano piece
Yochana thinks

on Benedict
even as her mother  
stands behind her
listening to her

every note
Benedict's image
fills her mind
the kiss still

feels damp
upon her lips
and cheek
and as she fingers

the Schubert
she senses her fingers
wanting to finger him
her mother says

you missed a note
you are not focusing
Yochana pauses
her fingers

over the keyboard
of black and white
senses her mother's breath
upon her neck

her mother's fingers
tapping her shoulder
and even as
she begins

to play again
it's Benedict whom
she thinks on
and his eyes she sees

in the reflection
of the piano wood
it must flow
her mother says

let Schubert speak
but Benedict's fingers
on her back
as he held her close

are all she feels
as she moves
to the music's pulse
on the piano stool

and as her mother's breath
floats upon her neck
it's his breath
she imagines

is there
and she and he
not there at the piano
but closer elsewhere.

I often choose Schubert and not Beethoven though he revered the latter so much.

He achieved sublimity without having to assert unlike Beethoven.
His music is more tender and gentle but it touches the very core of our heart in every measure while Beethoven insisted that his music must be heard..

Schubert was humble and congenial but Beethoven was wild, irascible and hurtful.  If there were gratitude, look to the life of Schubert who owed so much financially to his faithful friends.  

Schubert almost never performed in public--only twice unlike Beethoven.  Greatness can be defined in many ways. In music, I admire the life and personality of the composer as much as his music.  

Mozart was a master of melodies and Schubert was equal. Who could write over 600 lieder?  Dvorak was a great melodist like Tchaikovsky but there's only one Schubert.

Why did I not mention Johan Staruss junior and the other Strausses?  Their music is mainly ball-room music, to be heard for the moment, pleasurable but speaks little or nothing of the larger issues of human existence--they were great but of much lighter weight. I would die for the longing of Schubert's  but certainly not of the Strausses'.

  Some of you might not agree. I live in Melb, a music-lover.  
  Music is my religion