Suzanne

Suzanne takes you down
to her place near the river
you can hear the boats go by
you can spend the night beside her
And you know that she’s half crazy
but that’s why you want to be there
and she feeds you tea and oranges
that come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
that you have no love to give her
she gets you on her wavelength
and she lets the river answer
that you’ve always been her lover
            And you want to travel with her
            and you want to travel blind
            and you know that she can trust you
            for you’ve touched her perfect body
            with your mind
 
And Jesus was a sailor
when he walked upon the water
and he spent a long time watching
from his lonely wooden tower
and when he knew for certain
only drowning men could see him
he said “All men will be sailors then
until the sea shall free them”
but he himself was broken
long before the sky would open
forsaken, almost human
he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
            And you want to travel with him
            and you want to travel blind
            and you think maybe you’ll trust him
            for he’s touched your perfect body
            with his mind
 
Now Suzanne takes your hand
and she leads you to the river
she is wearing rags and feathers
from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
on our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
there are children in the morning
they are leaning out for love
they will lean that way forever
while Suzanne holds the mirror
            And you want to travel with her
            and you want to travel blind
            and you know that you can trust her
            for she’s touched your perfect body
            with her mind

Master Song

I believe that you heard your master sing
while I lay sick in bed.
I believe that he told you everything
that I keep locked away in my head
Your master took you travelling
at least that’s what you said
And now do you come back to bring
your prisoner wine and bread?
 
You met him at some temple
where they take your clothes at the door
he was just a numberless man in a chair
who had just come back from the war
And you wrap up his tired face in your hair
and he hands you the apple core
Then he touches your lips, now so suddenly bare
of all the kisses we put on some time before
 
And he gave you a German shepherd to walk
with a collar of leather and nails
and he never once made you explain or talk
about all of the little details
such as who had a worm and who had a rock
and who had you through the mails
Now your love is a secret all over the block
and it never stops, not even when your master fails
 
And he took you up in his aeroplane
which he flew without any hands
and you cruised above the ribbons of rain
that drove the crowd from the stands
Then he killed the lights in a lonely lane
where an ape with angel glands
erased the final wisps of pain
with the music of rubber bands
 
And now I hear your master sing
you kneel for him to come
His body is a golden string
that your body is hanging from
His body is a golden string,
my body has grown numb
Now you hear your master sing
your shirt is all undone
 
And will you kneel beside this bed
that we polished so long ago
before your master chose instead
to make my bed of snow
Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red
and you’re speaking far too low
No, I can’t make out what your master said
before he made you go
 
And I think you’re playing far too rough
for a lady who’s been to the moon
I’ve lain by this window long enough
to get used to an empty room
And your love is some dust in an old man’s cuff
who is tapping his foot to a tune
and your thighs are a ruin, you want too much
let’s say you came back too soon
 
I loved your master perfectly
I taught him all that he knew
He was starving in some deep mystery
like a man who is sure what is true
And I sent you to him with my guarantee
I could teach him something new
and I taught him how you would long for me
no matter what he said, no matter what you do
 
I believe that you heard your master sing
while I lay sick in bed
I suppose that he told you everything
that I keep locked away in my head
Your master took you travelling
(at least, that’s what you said)
And now do you come back to bring
your prisoner wine and bread?

Winter Lady

Travelling lady stay a while
Until the night is over
I’m just a station on your way
I know I’m not your lover
 
I lived with a child of snow
When I was a soldier
And I fought every man for her
Until the nights grew colder
 
She used to wear her hair like you
Except when she was sleeping
And then she’d weave it on a loom
Of smoke and gold and breathing
 
And why are you so quiet now
Standing there in the doorway?
You chose your journey long before
You came upon this highway
 
Travelling lady stay a while
Until the night is over
I’m just a station on your way
I know I’m not your lover

The Stranger Song

It’s true that all the men you knew were dealers who said they were through with dealing every time you gave them shelter. I know that kind of man. It’s hard to hold the hand of anyone who’s reaching for the sky just to surrender, who’s reaching for the sky just to surrender.
 
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind you’ll find he did not leave you very much not even laughter. Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he’ll never need to deal another. He was just some Joseph looking for a manger. He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.
 
And then leaning on your window-sill he’ll say one day you caused his will to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter. And then taking from his wallet an old schedule of trains, he’ll say, I told you when I came I was a stranger. I told you when I came I was a stranger.
 
But now another stranger seems to want you to ignore his dreams, as though they were the burden of some other. You’ve seen that man before, his golden arm dispatching cards, but now it’s rusted from the elbows to the finger. And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter. He wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.
 
You hate to see another tired man lay down his hand, like he was giving up the Holy Game of Poker. And while he talks his dreams to sleep, you notice there’s a highway that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder. It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder.
 
You tell him to come in, sit down, but something makes you turn around. The door is open. You cannot close your shelter. You try the handle of the road. It opens. Do not be afraid. It’s you, my love, it’s you who are the stranger. It’s you my love, you who are the stranger.
 
I’ve been waiting. I was sure we’d meet between the trains we’re waiting for, I think it’s time to board another. Please understand I never had a secret chart to get me to the heart of this, or any other matter. Well, he talks like this, you don’t know what he’s after. When he speaks like this, you don’t care what he’s after.
 
Let’s meet tomorrow if you choose, upon the shore, beneath the bridge, that they are building on some endless river. Then he leaves the platform for the sleeping car that’s warm, you realize, he’s only advertising one more shelter. And it comes to you, he never was a stranger. And you say. “OK, the bridge, or someplace later.”
 
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind, you find he did not leave you very much, not even laughter. Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he’ll never need to deal another. He was just some Joseph looking for a manger. He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.
 
And then leaning on your window-sill, he’ll say one day you caused his will to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter. And then taking from his wallet an old schedule of trains, he’ll say, I told you when I came I was a stranger. I told you when I came I was a stranger.I told you when I came I was a stranger.

Sisters Of Mercy

All the Sisters of Mercy
they are not departed or gone
They were waiting for me
when I thought that I just can’t go on
And they brought me their comfort
and later they brought me this song
Oh I hope you run into them
you who’ve been travelling so long
 
You who must leave everything
that you cannot control
It begins with your family
but soon it comes around to your soul
I’ve been where you’re hanging
I think I can see where you’re pinned
When you’re not feeling holy
your loneliness says that you’ve sinned
 
They lay down beside me
I made my confession to them
They touched both my eyes
and I touched the dew on their hem
If your life is a leaf that
the seasons tear off and condemn
they will bind you with love
that is graceful and green as a stem
 
When I left they were sleeping
I hope you run into them soon
Don’t turn on the lights
you can read their address by the moon
And you won’t make me jealous
if I hear that they sweetened your night
We weren’t lovers like that
and besides it would still be all right
We weren’t lovers like that
and besides it would still be all right

So Long, Marianne

Come over to the window, my little darling
I’d like to try to read your palm
I used to think I was some kind of gypsy boy
before I let you take me home
 
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again
 
You know that I love to live with you
but you make me forget so very much
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us
 
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again
 
We met when we were almost young
deep in the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
as we went kneeling through the dark
 
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again
 
Your letters they all say that you’re beside me now
Then why do I feel alone?
I’m standing on this ledge and your fine spider web
is fastening my ankle to a stone
 
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again
 
For now I need your hidden love
I’m cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was brave
 
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again
 
O you are really such a pretty one
I see you’ve gone and changed your name again
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside
to wash my eyelids in the rain!
 
So long, Marianne
it’s time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh
about it all again

Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye

I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
like a sleepy golden storm
Many loved before us
I know that we are not new
In city and in forest
they smiled like me and you
But now it’s come to distances
And both of us must try
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye
 
I’m not looking for another
As I wander in my time
Walk me to the corner
Our steps will always rhyme
You know my love goes with you
As your love stays with me
It’s just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea
But let’s not talk of love or chains
And things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye
 
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many loved before us
I know that we are not new
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you
But let’s not talk of love or chains
And things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye

Stories Of The Street

The stories of the street are mine, the Spanish voices laugh.
The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas,
and I lean from my window-sill in this old hotel I chose,
yes one hand on my suicide, one hand on the rose.
 
I know you’ve heard it’s over now and war must surely come,
the cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone.
But let me ask you one more time, O children of the dusk,
All these hunters who are shrieking now oh do they speak for us?
 
And where do all these highways go, now that we are free?
Why are the armies marching still that were coming home to me?
O lady with your legs so fine O stranger at your wheel,
You are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal.
 
The age of lust is giving birth, and both the parents ask
the nurse to tell them fairy tales on both sides of the glass.
And now the infant with his cord is hauled in like a kite,
and one eye filled with blueprints, one eye filled with night.
 
O come with me my little one, we will find that farm
and grow us grass and apples there and keep all the animals warm.
And if by chance I wake at night and I ask you who I am,
O take me to the slaughterhouse, I will wait there with the lamb.
 
With one hand on the hexagram and one hand on the girl
I balance on a wishing well that all men call the world.
We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky,
and lost among the subway crowds I try to catch your eye.

Teachers

I met a woman long ago
Her hair the black that black can go
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Soft she answered No
 
I met a girl across the sea
Her hair the gold that gold can be
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Yes but not for thee
 
I met a man who lost his mind
In some lost place I had to find
Follow me the wise man said
But he walked behind
 
I walked into a hospital
Where none was sick and none was well
When at night the nurses left
I could not walk at all
 
Morning came
And then came noon
Dinner time a scalpel blade
Lay beside my silver spoon
 
Some girls wander by mistake
Into the mess that scalpels make
Are you the teachers of my heart?
We teach old hearts to break
 
One morning I woke up alone
The hospital and the nurses gone
Have I carved enough, my Lord?
Child, you are a bone
 
I ate and ate and ate
I did not miss a plate
How much do these suppers cost?
We’ll take it out in hate
 
I spent my hatred everyplace
On every work on every face
Someone gave me wishes
And I wished for an embrace
 
Several girls embraced me, then
I was embraced by men
Is my passion perfect?
No, do it once again
 
I was handsome, I was strong
I knew the words of every song
Did my singing please you?
No, the words you sang were wrong
 
Who is it whom I address
Who takes down what I confess
Are you the teachers of my heart?
We teach old hearts to rest
 
Teachers are my lessons done?
I cannot do another one
They laughed and laughed and laughed and said
Well child, are your lessons done?
Are your lessons done?

One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong

I lit a thin green candle
to make you jealous of me
but the room just filled up with mosquitoes
they heard that my body was free
Then I took the dust
of a long sleepless night
and I put it in your little shoe
and then I confess
that I tortured the dress
that you wore for the world to look through
 
I showed my heart to the doctor
He said I just have to quit
Then he wrote himself a prescription
Your name was mentioned in it
Then he locked himself
in a library shelf
with the details of our honeymoon
and I hear from the nurse
that he’s gotten much worse
and his practice is all in a ruin
 
I heard of a saint who had loved you
I studied all night in his school
He taught that the duty of lovers
is to tarnish the Golden Rule
And just when I was sure
that his teachings were pure
he drowned himself in the pool
His body is gone
but back here on the lawn
his spirit continues to drool
 
An Eskimo showed me a movie
he’d recently taken of you
The poor man could hardly stop shivering
His lips and his fingers were blue
I suppose that he froze
when the wind tore off your clothes
and I guess he just never got warm
but you stand there so nice
in your blizzard of ice
Oh please let me come into the storm

(c) 1967 Leonard Cohen, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company

Courtesy of Menart, an exclusive Sony dealer for Croatia
Reprinted here with written permission