Must It Be? Poem by gershon hepner

“Muss es sein? Es muss sein, ” Beethoven wrote
in the very last movement of his last string quartet,
meaning “Must it be? It must be, ” but I’m afraid that the quote
is banal and the reason may make you upset.

A man who told Beethoven he wanted to borrow
the music made Beethoven sigh: “Must it be?
It can be, but you have to return it tomorrow
and pay for the loan with a minimal fee.”

How trivial the meaning of words we mistake
as being profound–– there can be a great lossage
when making transparent what had been opaque,
like learning ingredients they put in a sausage.