Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

‘did you hear it’, he asks me in a dream. ‘I haven’t stopped listening’, I say. ‘I wish I could hear it, just once’, he says with a pained smile. ‘the Ode to Joy moves me to tears’, I say. ‘I wish I could hear my sobs’, says Ludwig ruefully. ‘I wish I could see my tears’, I say. He laughs a laugh he cannot hear. I laugh too, my eyes brimming with tears, that only Ludwig can see