Anthem by Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

Anthem by Leonard Cohen

T.

Leonard Cohen’s Poems and Songs

(Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets) will be released on April 5, 2011. Man oh man, was my reaction a few nights ago. He’s one of my favourites. He leaves me speechless. It’s hard to find copies of his books here, and when I do it’s so damn expensive. You know the only reason why I sometimes desire to be rich someday? It’s so I can buy all the books I want and read all day and write for the rest of my life without having to worry if I have something to eat tomorrow. Then again, if I have that kind of life, what will I write about? Isn’t perfection brutal?

Anyway, here’s a poem I love:

Anthem

Leonard Cohen

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

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.

—

From Selected Poems, 1956-1968 by Leonard Cohen, published by Bantam Books, 1971.

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You might also like these:

Beneath My Hands by Leonard Cohen

I Wonder How Many People in This City by Leonard Cohen

All There is to Know About Adolph Eichmann by Leonard Cohen

How Could I Have Doubted by Leonard Cohen

I Am Dying by Leonard Cohen

poetry reading

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poetry