The Songs of Leonard Cohen

I believe that you heard your master sing
When I was sick in bed
I suppose that he told you everything
That I keep locked away in my head
Your master took you traveling
Well, 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 sometime 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 you 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 crowds from the stands
Then he killed the lights in a lonely lane
And an ape with angel glands
Erased the final wisps of pain
With the music of rubber bands

And now I hear you 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
O now you hear you master sing
Your shirt is all undone

And will you kneel beside this bed
That we polished so long ago
Before you master chose instead
To make my bed of snow
Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red
And you are 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
You 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 rune
And your highs are a ruin
you want too much
Let's say you came back sometime too soon

I loved your master perfectly
And 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 you master sing
While I was sick in bed
I'm sure that he told you everything
I must keep locked away in my head
Your master took you traveling
Well, at least that's what you said
And now do you come back to bring
Your prisoner wine and bread.

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
Then 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 will 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 you 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
and 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 she will trust you
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.

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 the 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, the nurses gone
Have I carved enough, my lord
Child, you are bone.

I ate and ate and ate,
No, I did not miss a plate
Well, how much do these suppers cost
We'll take it out in hate.

I spent my hatred every place
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.

Well, teachers are my lessons done
I cannot do another one
They laughed and laughed and said
Well, child are your lessons done.

Are your lessons done
Are your lessons done.

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 is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

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.

But now another stranger seems to want you to ignore his dreams
as though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before
his golden arm dispatching cards
but now it's rusted from the elbow to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.

You hate to watch 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's curling up like smoke above his shoulder.

You tell him to come in sit down
but something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close you shelter
You try the handle of the road
It opens do not be afraid
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It is you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, 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 know what he's after.

Let's meet tomorrow if you chose
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 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 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,
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'd just have to quit
Then he wrote himself a prescription
And 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
So 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 took your clothes
And I guess he just never got warm
But you stand there so nice in your blizzard of ice
O please let me come into the storm.