The Flame

by Leonard Cohen

  the people I imagine

  waiting for me

  are fast asleep

  Marianne on Aylmer Street

  enduring my hatred

  until it rusted

  and naming me higher and higher

  until my view was wide

  enough to love her

  The master of lakes

  made a haze of waterfalls

  over your shoulders

  and you come to me

  breasts soft as sand

  and hard as snail shells

  The master of traffic

  has you followed ceaselessly

  by crystal headlights

  and you come to me

  with beads of sap

  in your small quick kisses

  The master of farmyards

  tethers newborn animals

  beside your long legs

  and we lie apart centuries

  on fields of salt

  ***

  She brought the telephone book

  yellow against her green sleeves

  and white shirted bosom

  She stood in the doorway

  talking to the engineer

  whom she favoured of us all

  After she left he leaned back

  and relit a mexican cigar

  and spoke about mixing vodka

  with milk

  Now my song is in the great speakers

  and it is true as anything

  that makes you dream

  Have you suffered

  for the sake of a bigger office

  Have you betrayed your pain

  which was meant

  to bring you here

  to this altar this sacrifice

  these shackles of charity

  Find your way to be among us

  waiting for the bus

  with the children gone

  and no hope but in the sweetness of each other

  ***

  I’m sitting here alone

  on Christmas day

  I know, I know

  it shouldn’t be this way

  I been calling up some people

  but everybody’s out

  & I been praying to the one

  it’s all about

  I don’t know how I got this far

  from everyone I love

  or why I closed so many doors

  what I was thinking of

  ***

  Don’t come to me

  with your bright ideas

  Don’t talk to me

  about the flowers

  of this

  or any other city

  Your bright ideas

  hurt my eyes

  nor do I love

  your rubber hose

  the handcuffs

  or the kitchen chair

  ***

  because there was never anything better

  I did in the human world

  than to lie down in the fields of frankincense

  with you

  ***

  Monday March 4[?], 2012 Tremaine Front Lawn

  baby, don’t remind me what it’s like

  the only thing I ever cared about

  wasn’t money

  wasn’t fame

  wasn’t family

  wasn’t art

  baby, don’t remind me what I miss

  baby, don’t remind me what I miss

  I drove a thousand miles away from this

  ***

  April 8th 2012 Front Lawn Tremaine

  C’mon brother Trouble

  when you gonna quit

  you stole a bunch of money

  I thought that was it

  ***

  May 22, 2012 Tremaine Tuesday afternoon

  the troubles followed me

  from bed to bed

  i pitched my tent

  wher’ere love led

  no matter where

  I slept and fed

  the troubles followed me & {tailed me}

  from bed to bed

  I pitched my tent

  wher’ere love led

  the troubles followed

  bed to bed

  I moved away

  when beauty fled

  with beauty gone

  the rest was dead

  I knew too well

  what Moses said

  I must not touch

  the body dead

  with beauty gone

  what’s left is dead

  I tried to do

  what’s hard to do

  from showing up

  to loving you

  and loving you

  that was a bitch

  my self-defense

  was getting rich

  and buy off

  your ugly greed

  with every fucking thing

  you need

  the only news that isn’t boring is the truth

  but baby you ain’t telling it

  the only item you don’t want to buy is love

  but everybody selling it

  the sleek silver pen

  it’s supposed to write upside down

  in space

  where I’m really going to have

  nothing to write about

  ***

  July 10, 2002

  all the leaves are shining

  all the birds are singing

  all the wind is blowing

  all the bells are ringing

  please don’t make me say it anymore

  I thought I’d go alone but

  I’m glad I came with you

  That’s a rose

  and that’s a cactus

  They’re the same

  but they’re different too

  ***

  I’ll try to come home

  once I’ve done what I must

  which is what, please tell me

  please tell me what

  I forgot to mention

  the moon and the trees

  and the murderous blood

  that runs through our veins

  I forgot to mention

  the pillars of gold

  and the screams from the dungeon

  the fingernails pulled

  I forgot to mention

  the blank space on my heart

  where nothing is written

  and the plan falls apart

  I forgot to mention

  the unmade bed

  and the card on the doorknob

  says Do Not Disturb

  I forgot to mention

  the skin on my head

  hanging in folds disheveling my face

  like an unmade bed

  you climb up your ladder

  of rumor and lies

  you {slave} work for the master

  you claim to despise

  and you wave at the master

  you never polished

  your talent enough

  content to remain

  a diamond rough

  I’m a weakling a failure

  ashamed of myself / the cards I was dealt

  my balls are so big

  I can’t buckle my belt

  I {swear} strive to complete

  before it’s too late

  some mission from G-d

  I can’t even locate

  I can’t seem to locate

  get down on your knees

  this ain’t gonna pass

  and pray there’s no god

  to punish your ass

  I moan {boast} and I bitch

  at the cards I was dealt

  and my balls are so big

  I can’t buckle my belt

  can’t look in the mirror

  I’m burning with shame

  but I still like to boast

  I’m ahead of the game

  I’m tired of women

  I don’t trust the men

  I’ll try to come home

  as soon as it’s done

  the mighty taskr />
  I can’t even locate

  I’ll try to complete it

  if it’s not too late

  the mission the sanctified mission

  I can’t even locate

  that I can’t locate

  you gave away the factory

  and you gave away my job

  you said it’s for the future {better}

  and you said So help me God

  you said one day I’d thank you

  never gave nobody trouble

  but I’m afraid it’s gonna start

  You gave away the future

  you said I’d have to wait

  It’s for a better future

  but the future’s kind of late

  I see you don’t believe me

  no matter what

  I do

  my hand upon

  my mother’s grave

  but that ain’t good

  enough for you

  I tried

  I don’t know why

  I didn’t care why

  flying a kite

  no wind & no string

  worse than “nothing to lose”

  no juice to be hopeless

  no heart to be sad

  I tried in the wind

  I tried in the sand

  People turning into snakes

  before my very eyes

  I tried to hate

  I tried to forgive

  I tried baby

  I tried to live

  I tried to die

  I tried to live

  ***

  O

  Copenhagen

  Copenhagen

  August 24

  2012

  Room 510

  First Hotel

  The red roofs

  darkened by the rain

  and the eternal

  beginning of a cold

  ***

  Field Commander Cohen is wounded

  call it age or love

  the turret of his Sherman tank

  all slippery with blood

  He who was a hundred lovers

  in a monk’s disguise

  is asking for a cup of water

  from a swarm of flies

  I am the song & not the singer

  take his body

  take his spirit

  Not the boundary

  but the centre

  Save your anger, angels

  the days are coming soon

  when the earth will be

  a mirror

  the sun will be a cobweb

  the moon will be a

  spider

  coming near

  call him Dylan

  call him Jesus

  call him Mister Rockefeller

  I want to reach the people

  that the master did not reach

  ***

  maybe tomorrow will be better

  and the banner raised again

  for the sisterhood of women

  & the brotherhood of men

  ***

  just to breathe the air

  and sip the rare

  nectar of us together

  to give you something

  you might read

  down the road or never

  ***

  All of the lights

  All of the sea broken lights

  of the river

  All of the rhymeless thoughts of the hungry

  ***

  Look at me I’m all alone

  I’m nobody’s fool

  I’m Nobody’s Fool

  and deeper than experience

  I felt a woman presence

  not like anyone I’d left

  or anyone imagined.

  ***

  I swear that I’ll be true

  to the uniform I wore

  to the flag that I salute

  and the promises I swore

  I’ll try to do my duty

  just like I did before

  but I can’t hold you, baby,

  to my heart no more

  I know it’s us or them

  In the world that men call real

  & a flower needs a stem

  you can’t grow these golden flowers

  if the stems be not of steel

  tho’ the stem be made of steel

  Can’t blame you for the cruelty

  when the killer’s at the door

  But I can’t hold you, baby,

  to my heart no more.

  and I’m here between your safety

  and the killer at the door

  ***

  I bow my head

  in gratitude

  to those who gave

  who give so much

  so I can write

  my diary

  I think, therefore I am

  right up there with

  Mary had a Little Lamb

  ***

  and ankle deep in a pool of blood

  your uncle cries at last

  “I don’t care much for the movie

  but the popcorn is unsurpassed”

  & establish the terror

  you long to command

  ***

  When I saw

  how easily

  the hand became

  a claw

  I began to understand

  the study of the law

  ***

  Some people got the blues

  Some people don’t

  Some people don’t got food

  That’s the truth

  I didn’t say that it was news

  I could not slip away

  without telling you

  that I died in Greece

  was buried in that

  place where the donkey

  is tethered to the olive tree

  I will always be there

  To all of you

  with whom I ate the fish

  and clicked my glass

  & never said a word

  before I go

  I want to say hello

  from the stranger who

  lived among you

  ***

  out of the night

  the trees step forward

  a solitary bird

  sharpens its song

  on the stone-grey {mist} dawn

  ***

  Her bread is very sweet

  She baked it by herself

  in an oven on a hill above the sea

  an oven that I built

  it took me several months

  when I lived with her last year

  when we weren’t doing much

  but keeping warm and near

  We watched the different sailboats

  of the rich and of the poor

  the travelers from the cove

  and the [?] from Gibraltar

  We watched them

  then a smoke ring that came from Lebanon

  and we weren’t doing much

  so we waved at everyone

  She phoned me from a long way off

  just the other night

  She’s working in a private club

  and she doesn’t mind the life

  She meant to talk 3 minutes

  while they showed a silent movie

  but we weren’t very busy

  so we spoke till it was bright

  She asked if I was busy {happy}

  and what the weather’s like

  we weren’t doing very much

  so we spoke till it was light

  so we whispered half the night

  I wasn’t doing very much

  & the weather’s right

  & the weather’s been all right

  She phoned me

  from a long way off

  just the other night

  She’s working in a

  Playboy club

  She doesn’t mind the life

  She asked if I was busy

  & what the weather’s like

  I told her that I loved her
<
br />   & the weather was all right

  She phoned me from a long way off

  just the other night

  She’s working in a private club

  She doesn’t mind the life

  She asked if I was busy {happy}

  & what the weather’s like

  I wasn’t doing much

  She spent a whole week’s pay to learn

  the weather’d been all right

  & the weather’d been all right

  I know that you can love me

  if you’d only try

  It’s true I killed your brother

  & I’m aiming at your eye

  but these are only droplets

  on the water wheel

  save me all your energy

  & tell me how you feel

  Your songs are very sad

  I hope that you will sing them

  your poems are very long

  I hope that you will bring them

  Just leave them on my desk

  I’ll put your name in lights

  & pick yourself a girl, may I

  suggest the one in tights

  ***

  first you were a clean-shaven fool

  now you’re a fool with a beard

  ***

  what the old laws mean

  why they distinguish between

  what is clean

  and what is unclean

  symbols in the flesh

  have been given you

  so that you may know

  when you may approach

  one another

  I write this on the

  borderline

  who insist that the

  full moon should be

  new and the new moon

  should be full

  I do not speak of sin

  but only readiness and

  hospitality & the wisdom

  of restraint

  ***

  you’ll never understand

  you don’t need to understand

  you’re not supposed to understand

  what it means to be a man

  to feel this overwhelming love

  to be so awkward

  and so tough

  and to know it’s not enough

  to say I want you baby

  I want you

  with my dying breath

  ***

  Aug 21, 1989 Mt. Baldy

  I take the train

  but I do not dare

  to really look at anybody

  riding with me there

  some are poor some are rich

  some are black some are white

  but I don’t know which is which

  in my secret life

  & I’ll never be able

  to bring a little baby

  from my belly to the cradle

  so what if there’s a war

  so what if there’s a fight

  there is no [finer?] sight

  for ever & forever

  nothing can be better

  than the man and the

  woman together

  ***

  Beautiful are the nights in Canaan

  How long will you live in my heart,

  O homeland

  Sleep my darling girl

  A girl is expecting her lover

  She lies in bed listening

  to the train

  Under a greenwood tree

  two boys are sitting, talking

  about a maid, and nothing

  else matters to them.