And what a loss.
Not Waterloo,
nor divorce,
nor arsenic-
The greatest disappointment
lay not in the battlefields
or in the bed sheets.
His name felled like a tree,
not with a king's sword,
or a lover's word,
but with a deaf man's quill.
When noble admiration
like lightning,
shattered into shards of rage,
Napoleon's deepest loss
was a scar.
Not a scratch on his face,
or the charred land after battle,
but the pen's gash-
a single sheet
bearing the hole where his name had previously blazed,
and the words
"Symphony No. 3"
Author notes
Written for the Napoleon contest, based on the story behind the dedication of Beethoven's 3rd Symphony.
A contest entry
- Waterloo - 4000 Pt Contest by Mari Goes.
4525 points, ended June 27, 2007, 16 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
Congratulations on the Silver win for this super poem. I know I wasn't very serious in my previous comment, a mood I was in
But you did a wonderful job expressing the story behind Beethoven's work (Beethoven being one of my most favorite classical musicians)
Your poem was informative and well written, to the point without a lot of frills in the context.
A superb job
Dee
-
Yem's comment is perfect to this poem.
I didn't know about that story, quite interesting. Thank you for bringing it to our knowledge
-
Well,Beethoven must have had his reasons. Who would want to be remembered as the guy who wrote a fine classical piece of music for a short general?... too bad the word got out anyway . I wonder who the big mouth was who spread that around
Ima and Yem... were you around back then??? Was it you who badmouthed Beethoven??
Good poem, BlueNote Good luck in the contest
Dee
-
Thanks for entering! I guess Beetoven was indeed quite put out with his former idol, as you know, he supposedly scrathed Napoleon's name so vigorously from his composition that he put a whole in it. I don't know it that is true or Apocryphal but it makes for a good story. I emjoyed the poem, it adds a touch of class to the contest.
Adding your comment:
