I do not know if
the world has lied
i have lied
i do not know
if the world has conspired
i have conspired against love
the atmosphere of torture
is no comfort
i have tortured
listen,
even without the mushroom cloud
still,i would have hated
i will not be held like a drunk
under the cold tap of facts
i refuse the universal alibi..

like an empty telephone booth
passed at night and remembered
like mirrors in a movie palace lobby
consulted only on the way out
like a nymphomaniac that binds a thousand
into a strange brotherhood
i wait for each one of you to confess..

Leonard Cohen