Dance Me To The End Of Love

Dance me to your beauty

with a burning violin

Dance me through the panic

till I’m gathered safely in

Lift me like an olive branch

and be my homeward dove

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love

Oh let me see your beauty

when the witnesses are gone

Let me feel you moving

like they do in Babylon

Show me slowly what I only

know the limits of

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now

dance me on and on

Dance me very tenderly

and dance me very long

We’re both of us beneath our love

we’re both of us above

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children

who are asking to be born

Dance me through the curtains

that our kisses have outworn

Raise a tent of shelter now

though every thread is torn

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty

with a burning violin

Dance me through the panic

till I’m gathered safely in

Touch me with your naked hand

or touch me with your glove

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the end of love

Coming Back To You

Maybe I’m still hurting,

I can’t turn the other cheek.

But you know that I still love you;

it’s just that I can’t speak.

I looked for you in everyone

and they called me on that too;

I lived alone but I was only

coming back to you

Ah they’re shutting down the factory now

just when all the bills are due;

and the fields they’re under lock and key

though the rain and the sun come through.

And springtime starts but then it stops

in the name of something new;

and all the senses rise against this

coming back to you

And they’re handing down my sentence now,

and I know what I must do:

another mile of silence while I’m

coming back to you

There are many in your life

and many still to be.

Since you are a shining light,

there’s many that you’ll see.

But I have to deal with envy

when you choose the precious few

who’ve left their pride on the other side of

coming back to you

Even in your arms I know

I’ll never get it right;

even when you bend

to give me comfort in the night.

I’ve got to have your word on this

or none of it is true,

and all I’ve said was just instead of

coming back to you

How many times did you call me

And I knew it was late

I left everybody

But I never went straight

I don’t claim to be guilty

But I do understand

There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand

Now my heart’s like a blister

From doing what I do

If the moon has a sister

It’s got to be you

I’m going to miss you forever

Though it’s not what I planned

There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand

Now the deal has been dirty

Since dirty began

I’m not asking for mercy

Not from the man

You just don’t ask for mercy

While you’re still on the stand

There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand

I don’t claim to be guilty

Guilty’s too grand

There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand

That’s all I can say, baby

That’s all I can say

It wasn’t for nothing

That they put me away

I fell with my angel

Down the chain of command

There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand

There’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand

Night Comes On

I went down to the place where I knew she lay waiting

under the marble and the snow.

I said, “Mother I’m frightened; the thunder and the lightning;

I’ll never come through this alone.”

She said, “I’ll be with you, my shawl wrapped around you,

my hand on your head when you go.”

And the night came on; it was very calm;

I wanted the night to go on and on,

but she said, “Go back to the world.”

We were fighting in Egypt, when they signed this agreement

that nobody else had to die.

There was this terrible sound and my father went down

with a terrible wound in his side.

He said, “Try to go on, take my books, take my gun,

remember, my son, how they lied.”

And the night comes on, it’s very calm;

I’d like to pretend that my father was wrong,

but you don’t want to lie, not to the young.

We were locked in this kitchen; I took to religion,

and I wondered how long she would stay.

I needed so much to have nothing to touch:

I’ve always been greedy that way.

But my son and my daughter climbed out of the water,

crying, “Papa, you promised to play.”

And they lead me away to the great surprise;

it’s “Papa, don’t peek, Papa, cover your eyes.”

And they hide, they hide in the world.

Now I look for her always; I’m lost in this calling;

I’m tied to the threads of some prayer.

Saying, “When will she summon me, when will she come to me,

what must I do to prepare?” –

Then she bends to my longing, like a willow, like a fountain,

she stands in the luminous air.

And the night comes on, and it’s very calm,

I lie in her arms, she says, “When I’m gone

I’ll be yours, yours for a song.”

Now the crickets are singing, the vesper bells ringing,

the cat’s curled asleep in his chair.

I’ll go down to Bill’s Bar, I can make it that far,

and I’ll see if my friends are still there.

Yes, and here’s to the few who forgive what you do,

and the fewer who don’t even care!

And the night comes on; it’s very calm;

I want to cross over, I want to go home,

but she says, “Go back, go back to the world.”

Hallelujah

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord

that David played, and it pleased the Lord,

but you don’t really care for music, do you?

It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth

the minor fall, the major lift;

the baffled king composing Hallelujah!

Hallelujah Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof.

You saw her bathing on the roof;

her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you.

She tied you to a kitchen chair

she broke your throne, and she cut your hair,

and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah!

Hallelujah Hallelujah

You say I took the Name in vain;

I don’t even know the name.

But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you?

There’s a blaze of light in every word;

it doesn’t matter which you heard,

the holy, or the broken Hallelujah!

I did my best; it wasn’t much.

I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch.

I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you.

And even though it all went wrong,

I’ll stand before the Lord of Song

with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah

The Captain

Now the Captain called me to his bed

he fumbled for my hand.

“Take these silver bars,” he said,

“I’m giving you command.”

“Command of what, there’s no one here,

there’s only you and me –

All the rest are dead or in retreat

or with the enemy.”

“Complain, complain, that’s all you’ve done

ever since we lost.

If it’s not the Crucifixion

then it’s the Holocaust.”

for making such a joke

amid these hearts that burn like coal

and the flesh that rose like smoke.”

“I know that you have suffered, lad,

but suffer this a while:

Whatever makes a soldier sad

will make a killer smile.”

“I’m leaving, Captain, I must go;

there’s blood upon your hand.

But tell me, Captain, if you know

of a decent place to stand.”

“There is no decent place to stand

in a massacre,

but if a woman take your hand,

go and stand with her.”

and a baby in Saigon –

I risked my life, but not to hear

some country-western song.”

“Ah but if you cannot raise your love

to a very high degree,

then you’re just the man I’ve been thinking of –

so come and stand with me.”

“Your standing days are done,” I cried,

“you’ll rally me no more.

I don’t even know what side

we fought on, or what for.”

“I’m on the side that’s always lost

against the side of heaven;

I’m on the side of snake-eyes tossed

against the side of seven.

And I’ve read the Bill of Human Rights

and some of it was true,

but there wasn’t any burden left

so I’m laying it on you.”

but the Captain wasn’t hurt.

The silver bars were in my hand

I pinned them to my shirt

Hunter’s Lullaby

Your father’s gone a-hunting

He’s deep in the forest so wild

And he cannot take his wife with him

He cannot take his child

Your father’s gone a-hunting

In the quicksand and the clay

And a woman cannot follow him

Although she knows the way

Your father’s gone a-hunting

Through the silver and the glass

Where only greed can enter

But spirit, spirit cannot pass

Your father’s gone a-hunting

For the beast we’ll never cannot bind

And he leaves a baby sleeping

And his blessings all behind

Your father’s gone a-hunting

And he’s lost his lucky charm

And he’s lost the guardian heart

That keeps the hunter from the harm

Your father’s gone a-hunting

He asked me to say goodbye

And he warned me not to stop him

I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t even try

Heart With No Companion

I greet you from the other side

Of sorrow and despair

With a love so vast and shattered

It will reach you everywhere

And I sing this for the captain

Whose ship has not been built

For the mother in confusion

Her cradle still unfilled

For the heart with no companion

For the soul without a king

For the prima ballerina

Who cannot dance to anything

Through the days of shame that are coming

Through the nights of wild distress

Tho’ your promise count for nothing

You must keep it nonetheless

You must keep it for the captain

Whose ship has not been built

For the mother in confusion

Her cradle still unfilled

For the heart with no companion

For the soul without a king

For the prima ballerina

Who cannot dance to anything

I greet you from the other side

Of sorrow and despair

With a love so vast and shattered

It will reach you everywhere

If It Be Your Will

If it be your will

that I speak no more,

and my voice be still

as it was before;

I will speak no more,

I shall abide until

I am spoken for

if it be your will.

If it be your will

that a voice be true,

from this broken hill

I will sing to you.

From this broken hill

all your praises they shall ring

if it be your will

to let me sing.

all your praises they shall ring

if it be your will

to let me sing.

If it be your will,

if there is a choice,

let the rivers fill,

let the hills rejoice.

Let your mercy spill

on all these burning hearts in hell,

if it be your will

to make us well.

And draw us near

and bind us tight,

all your children here

in their rags of light;

in our rags of light,

all dressed to kill;

and end this night,

if it be your will.

If it be your will.

(c) 1985 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company

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