she wakes you with a kiss.

Do not say the moment was imagined;

Do not stoop to strategies like this.

As someone long prepared for the occasion;

In full command of every plan you wrecked –

Do not choose a coward’s explanation

that hides behind the cause and the effect.

And you who were bewildered by a meaning;

Whose code was broken, crucifix uncrossed –

Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.

Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

And you who were bewildered by a meaning;

Whose code was broken, crucifix uncrossed –

Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.

Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.

Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

This song, co-written by Sharon Robinson, was included on Ten New Songs (2001). It is a re-working of the poem ‘The God Abandons Antony’ by the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy. The original poem was based on Plutarch’s story about how Mark Antony, besieged in Alexandria by Octavian, hears the sound of music passing through and out of the city and realises it is the god Bacchus deserting him. Recasting the story as one about the end of an affair, Cohen provides a well-written late example of one of his regular themes – stoicism in the face of love’s disappointment.

Anthem

The birds they sang

at the break of day

Start again

I heard them say

Don’t dwell on what

has passed away

or what is yet to be.

Ah the wars they will

be fought again

The holy dove

She will be caught again

bought and sold

and bought again

the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

We asked for signs

the signs were sent:

the birth betrayed

the marriage spent

Yeah the widowhood

of every government --

signs for all to see.

I can’t run no more

with that lawless crowd

while the killers in high places

say their prayers out loud.

But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up

a thundercloud

and they’re going to hear from me.

Ring the bells that still can ring ...

You can add up the parts

but you won’t have the sum

You can strike up the march,

there is no drum

Every heart, every heart

to love will come

You can add up the parts

but you won’t have the sum

You can strike up the march,

there is no drum

Every heart, every heart

to love will come

but like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

That’s how the light gets in.

That’s how the light gets in.

Regarded by Cohen as “one of the best songs I’ve written, maybe the best”, it had a long gestation. He recorded versions of it during the sessions for both Various Positions (1985) and I’m Your Man (1988) but “there was a lie somewhere in there … a disclosure that I was refusing to make … a solemnity that I hadn’t achieved”. Finally realised to his satisfaction, it was included on The Future (1992).

Avalanche

Well I stepped into an avalanche,

it covered up my soul;

when I am not this hunchback that you see,

I sleep beneath the golden hill.

You who wish to conquer pain,

you must learn, learn to serve me well.

You strike my side by accident

as you go down for your gold.

The cripple here that you clothe and feed

is neither starved nor cold;

he does not ask for your company,

not at the centre, the centre of the world.

When I am on a pedestal,

you did not raise me there.

Your laws do not compel me

to kneel grotesque and bare.

I myself am the pedestal

for this ugly hump at which you stare.

You who wish to conquer pain,

you must learn what makes me kind;

the crumbs of love that you offer me,

they’re the crumbs I’ve left behind.

Your pain is no credential here,

it’s just the shadow, shadow of my wound.

I have begun to long for you,

I who have no greed;

I have begun to ask for you,

I who have no need.

You say you’ve gone away from me,

but I can feel you when you breathe.

Do not dress in those rags for me,

I know you are not poor;

you don’t love me quite so fiercely now

when you know that you are not sure,

it is your turn, beloved,

it is your flesh that I wear.

Based on the poem ‘I Stepped Into An Avalanche’ (included in Parasites Of Heaven), this song was included on Songs Of Love And Hate (1971).

Ballad Of The Absent Mare

Say a prayer for the cowboy

His mare’s run away

And he’ll walk till he finds her

His darling, his stray

but the river’s in flood

and the roads are awash

and the bridges break up

in the panic of loss.

And there’s nothing to follow

There’s nowhere to go

She’s gone like the summer

gone like the snow

And the crickets are breaking

his heart with their song

as the day caves in

and the night is all wrong

Did he dream, was it she

who went galloping past

and bent down the fern

broke open the grass

and printed the mud with

the iron and the gold

that he nailed to her feet

when he was the lord

And although she goes grazing

a minute away

he tracks her all night

he tracks her all day

Oh blind to her presence

except to compare

his injury here

with her punishment there

Then at home on a branch

in the highest tree

a songbird sings out

so suddenly

Ah the sun is warm

and the soft winds ride

on the willow trees

by the river side

Oh the world is sweet

the world is wide

and she’s there where

the light and the darkness divide

and the steam’s coming off her

she’s huge and she’s shy

and she steps on the moon

when she paws at the sky

And she comes to his hand

but she’s not really tame

She longs to be lost

he longs for the same

and she’ll bolt and she’ll plunge

through the first open pass

to roll and to feed

in the sweet mountain grass

Or she’ll make a break

for the high plateau

where there’s nothing above

and there’s nothing below

and it’s time for the burden

it’s time for the whip

Will she walk through the flame

Can he shoot from the hip

So he binds himself

to the galloping mare

and she binds herself

to the rider there

and there is no space

but there’s left and right

and there is no time

but there’s

Добавить отзыв
ВСЕ ОТЗЫВЫ О КНИГЕ В ИЗБРАННОЕ

0

Вы можете отметить интересные вам фрагменты текста, которые будут доступны по уникальной ссылке в адресной строке браузера.

Отметить Добавить цитату