On this day in 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died. Experts debate to this day the possible causes of his death and whether it was from natural causes or something more sinister. Certainly Mozart said several times that he thought he had been poisoned.

Perhaps equally strange is the fact that so few people came to Mozart’s funeral. He was after all possibly the greatest composer who ever lived. A few years before his death, Mozart had acquired a pet starling and kept the bird in his back yard. He taught it to sing some bars of his music which he recorded in his notebook and was upset when it died.

He carried out a mock burial and recited a poem he had composed for the occasion, A Starling:

Here lies a dear fool
A little starling; in the prime
Of his brief time.
He must feel death’s bitter pain.
My heart is riven
Thinking of him.
Reader, shed a tear as well.
He was not bad
But frisky and bright.
Underneath he was a wag,
No one would deny;
And I would say for sure
That now he is above.
In his friendly way
He will be praising me.
Yet unaware, I’d say
That he’s alive no more
To thank me for this score.

Today I will remember that we only have one life and we should make the best of it with whatever tools or talents that we have been given.