On Beethoven Listening to Cannon Fire

Is it so hard to believe that pain will come when you least expect it?

We often subject ourselves to sadness or inexorable, unrequited passion, even to the darkest of thoughts. It is in this curious way that we prepare ourselves for supreme tragedy, loss, and uncomfortable bliss - all of which need to be felt and then grown out of before we should consider our words more than child's blather.