Unfinished

Schubert had a symphony
He didn’t quite complete,
Though the parts he finished writing,
We consider quite a feat.

David Foster Wallace
Left his novel not quite done;
Still, the accolades accorded it
Have piled up, one by one.

Many things have value
Even though they are unfinished.
An artist’s reputation means
Their worth has not diminished.

For projects may be started
But not make it to the end.
We cannot know the message
The remainders did portend.

Perhaps the final passages
Might not have satisfied;
The composer might have tossed them
And committed symphocide.

So we are left critiquing
Works abandoned halfway through.
Might they be much better finished?
We don’t really have a clue.