The New Jerusalem glowing
Why tarry all night in the ruin
And leave no word of discomfort
And leave no observer to mourn
But climb on your tears and be silent
Like a rose on its ladder of thorns
Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love...
Then lay your rose on the fire
The fire give up to the sun
The sun give over to splendour
In the arms of the high holy one
For the holy one dreams of a letter
Dreams of a letter’s death
Oh bless thee continuous stutter
Of the word being made into flesh
Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love...
Gentle this soul
Included on Recent Songs (1984), and also on Field Commander Cohen – Tour Of 1979 (2001), this song contains some of Cohen’s finest writing – the phrases “oh tangle of matter and ghost” and “ climb on your tears and be silent / like the rose on its ladder of thorns” rank alongside his best lyrical constructions. Unusually, Cohen uses explicitly religious language in a song with a recognisably religious theme, for he is attempting to seduce his woman not into bed but into a state of grace. The last stanza ends with a prayer that would not have disgraced the psalmist and which any poet would be proud to have penned: “oh bless the continuous stutter / of the word being made into flesh”.
There For You
When it all went down
And the pain came through
I get it now
I was there for you
Don’t ask me how
I know it’s true
I get it now
I was there for you
I make my plans
Like I always do
But when I look back
I was there for you
I walk the streets
Like I used to do
And I freeze with fear
But I’m there for you
I see my life
In full review
It was never me
It was always you
You sent me here
You sent me there
Breaking things
I can’t repair
Making objects
Out of thoughts
Making more
By thinking not
Eating food
And drinking wine
A body that
I thought was mine
Dressed as Arab
Dressed as Jew
O mask of iron
I was there for you
Moods of glory
Moods so foul
The world comes through
A bloody towel
And death is old
But it’s always new
I freeze with fear
And I’m there for you
I see it clear
I always knew
It was never me
I was there for you
I was there for you
My darling one
And by your law
It all was done
This song, included on Dear Heather (2004), was co-written by Sharon Robinson. Addressed to an individual woman, this song simply would be flattering and romantic. Given what we know of the complexities of his work and the richness of his love-life, it is surely a better reading to see it as addressed to womankind in general, or to the abstract Love, whose servant Cohen has ever been.
There Is A War
There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the ones who say there is a war
and the ones who say there isn’t.
Why don’t you come on back to the war, that’s right, get in it,
why don’t you come on back to the war, it’s just beginning.
Well I live here with a woman and a child,
the situation makes me kind of nervous.
Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says “I guess you call this love”;
I call it service.
Why don’t you come on back to the war, don’t be a tourist,
why don’t you come on back to the war, before it hurts us,
why don’t you come on back to the war, let’s all get nervous.
You cannot stand what I’ve become,
you much prefer the gentleman I was before.
I was so easy to defeat, I was so easy to control,
I didn’t even know there was a war.
Why don’t you come on back to the war, don’t be embarrassed,
why don’t you come on back to the war, you can still get married.
There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the left and right,
a war between the black and white,
a war between the odd and the even.
Why don’t you come on back to the war, pick up your tiny burden,
why don’t you come on back to the war, let’s all get even,
why don’t you come on back to the war, can’t you hear me speaking?
Though this song, included on New Skin From The Old Ceremony (1974), lists a number of sociopolitical conflicts, it is clear that Cohen is only really concerned with the war between himself and Suzanne Elrod. Unfortunately, Cohen does not generalise from the particular and the song fails to rise above its partisan and somewhat bilious context.
To A Teacher
Dedicated to A. M. Klein (1909-1972)
Hurt once and for all into silence.
A long pain ending without a song to prove it.
Who could stand beside you so close to Eden,
When you glinted in every eye the held-high
razor, shivering every ram and son?
And now the silent loony bin, where
The shadows live in the rafters like
Day-weary bats,
Until the turning mind, a radar signal,
lures them to exaggerate
Mountain-size on the white stone wall
Your tiny limp.
How can I leave you in such a house?
Are there no more saints and wizards
to praise their ways with pupils,
No more evil to stun with the slap
of a wet red tongue?
Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror
and rest because he had finally come?
Let me cry Help beside you, Teacher.
I have entered under this dark roof
As fearlessly as an honoured son
Enters his father’s house.
Included on Dear Heather (2004), the words of this song were originally included in Cohen’s anthology The Spice-Box Of The Earth. Abraham Moses Klein was a Canadian writer, best known as a poet and cited by Cohen as an influence. He was a significant figure on the Montreal literary scene from the Thirties onwards, and an important member of the Montreal Jewish community. After 1956, he gave up writing and became a recluse, the “silence” referred to in the song’s opening words.
Tonight Will Be Fine
Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past.
We swore to each other then that our love would surely last.
You kept right on
