"I cannot die upon this night"
The composer did protest
"For I must complete my Tenth Symphony
Before my final rest"
The devil smiled compassionately
Which took all there by suprise
But not nearly as much as his answer
When he finally did reply
"They say that I have no compassion
That my heart it cannot feel
But I sympathize with your dilemma
So I offer you this deal
Take all the time you need
To compose this tenth symphony you've begun
But first, show me what notes you change
And then I'll say the deal is done"
Then Beethoven he admitted
That the symphony was quite finished
And that if he changed a solitary note
The entire piece would be diminished
"Hmm, I sense your fear"
The Devil said
"Over what must now be done
But if you don't like this ending
I can offer you another one
If you'll give me your music
Each note, each rest, each beat
Then I will return your soul to you
And save it from the heat
Now I see your face perplexes
That you do not understand
That it is my intention to wipe these songs
From the mind of man
Every symphony and choral
Each sonata old and new
Will simply disappear this night
But your soul returns to you"
And with that The Great Beethoven stumbled backwards
'Til he fell into his chair
And searched his mind for a reply
But there were no answers there
And the Devil said
"Hmm, I can clearly see your mind is quite confused
So I'll return in one hour
For the answer that you choose
And you can tell me then
What you will keep and what you will lose
[The hands of the clock rotate backwards from midnight to eleven PM.]

So tell me now what do you fear?
What do you love or hold too dear?
Is it death well wrapped in pain?
Or perhaps it's no one will remember your name?
If this is so, perhaps I cannot win
But then add pride onto your other sins hahahaha
I am not trying to pressure you
I know you cannot decide yet
But nothing focuses the mind my friend
Like the approach of one's own death"
And as he turned to disappear
Into his personal abyss
Beethoven called for him to wait
For something was now amiss
The hands upon the clock
It seems were moving much too fast
And at this rate his hour gift
Would not an hour last
"Consider it a final act of kindness"
Over his shoulder the Devil did call
"Because where you are going my dear Ludwig
The clocks they never, move, at all"

[Mephistopheles disappears back into the abyss through a hole in the floor that opens up to receive him.]
With Mephistopheles gone
The spirits silently crept back
And watched the great composer agonize
Over the time that he now lacked
So in this room now filled with shadows
Beethoven stood quite alone
And contemplated how to save
The one thing he truly ever owned
Could all the wisdom he had found
Like so many leaves upon the ground
Combine with all his dreams and sins
And on this night be scattered to the wind?
For of our faith they are so insistent
With gods who are so inconsistent
And if we are to further delve
Into this night and find ourselves
Might we discover in our past
What in our lives might one day last