A nurse’s care replaces impossible independence,
Too short heaven in a “delighted to see you” smile,
Lifetime of living remnants in a fragmented mind-
The woman becomes child of the man for ever,
Ten minute memories in oft repeated questions.

Picture book of life a set of disappearing moments,
Flashes of insight, questions prescient in perception,
Family names confused but still recognised for now.
Does love die or become caring for the living dead?
Will a God preserve me from this same living hell?

He had sunken, slightly disappointed, kind eyes,
Illness barely gave him 3 score years and 10.
He always expected that God would intervene,
To prevent business failure after Biblical 40 years.
Trusting faithfully to the end – a gentle man.

“Look after your Mother” – his last words to me.

Half a million miles a year,
My carry-on is my home.
Living in three shirts, in
Indifferent cold hotels,
In far-away lands is like,
My shifting sands in life,
Until I see you again.

Sometimes I get homesick,
For places I’ve not yet been,
Where I will feel at peace alone,
Everywhere I make my home,
But without you this is like,
My shifting sands of life
Until I see you again.

She gazes down on a daily sea,
Of expectant lesson hungry faces,
The teacher uses a carrot not a stick,
To prove these cast-off kids stomachs,
Will love them when they cook creatively.

Vogue-like poet on the catwalk of life,
She sees life in little things each day.
Weekend dates in the big smoke,
Will blue suit and red shoes work,
With him again, again tonight?

She gazes down on a daily sea,
Of expectant lesson hungry faces,
The teacher uses a carrot not a stick,
To prove these cast-off kids stomachs,
Will love them when they cook creatively.

Vogue-like poet on the catwalk of life,
She sees life in little things each day.
Weekend dates in the big smoke,
Will blue suit and red shoes work,
With him again, again tonight?

A dog is for life
A duck is for dinner
A dragon is for barbecues
A friend is for inspiration
A fish is for relaxation
A frog is for kissing
A cat is for ever
because it has
nine lives that make
it ideal for experimentation

Cohen liquid music trickles into the holes in our lives
It’s four in the morning at the end of December
I came by myself to this very crowded place
Now in Vienna there are ten pretty women
The walls of this hotel are paper thin
Everyone knows the dice is loaded
I loved you for a long long time
I stepped into an avalanche
The door it opens slowly
Baby I’ve been waiting
Like a bird on a wire
If you want a lover
But I am not lost
Snow is falling
Love is a fire
Silence
…..
…
.






Excerpts from Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs by Leonard Cohen © 1993.
Published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
Used with permission of the publisher.