In the hereafter Poem by Alfred Brendel

In the hereafter
we can make up
for all we missed in life
Beethoven for example
can be retrieved over there
as a baker
hurling the dough into the oven with habitual fury
The resemblance of his sonata movements to Pretzels
was first remarked upon by Tovey
but it was Schenker's acute ear
that compared the late bagatelles
to poppy-seed cake
The deceased master's most recent composition
his ‘Cursing Bagels'
curse
when you sink your teeth into them