There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.
– Leonard Cohen
In honor of Leonard Cohen
1934 – 2016
Canadian poet, singer, songwriter, novelist and painter Leonard Cohen releases his final elegiac album You Want it Darker two weeks before his death in Los Angeles at 82, on November 7. The world mourns his loss and pays tribute to the work of a luminary. On November 14, the brightest super moon since 1948 glows high in the sky. But simultaneously America’s game of truth or dare implodes. Lunacy replaces integrity, faux news tweets and chameleon promises go viral. All that glitters is not gold. The value of truth plummets, dignity and equality burn at the stake and as for the future of humanity – all bets are off. So you want it darker or brighter? How do you like your Hallelujahs? I’ll take Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (5 years in the making) any day, any night, in any moonlight.
Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more humane world.
– Andre Maurois
Imagining a constellation of epiphanies and a surge of creativity, I consider a high altitude pilgrimage to the Mt. Baldy Zen Center at 10,000’ where Cohen (a Jew) retreated in 1994 for 5 years and emerged as an ordained Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk. But instead, I decide to simply shut down the news, crack open a bottle of Nouveau Beaujolais and sink into his “golden” voice and the power of song. His contemplative lyrics remind me what it means to be human. Do you want it darker or brighter?
When I picked up the medallion with his symbol of the unified hearts (now my key chain in the image above) at his concert in Los Angeles in 2009, I didn’t know it would be the last time I would have the privilege of seeing him. Sensing death as he wrote the lyrics for his last album, he clearly planned his exit in his final confession, “I’m ready, my Lord.” When I wrote my blog last November and quoted “Bird on a Wire” I had no idea a year later I would be bidding Cohen farewell. And if you knew about all my Novembers you would discover other eulogies – one in 2013 for a man whose life and love and rings intertwined with mine (twice) over the space of many decades and multiple continents. A man who like Cohen, knew something I didn’t know. His words haunt me still – an echo in the hallellujah between the darkness and the dawn.
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
– Leonard Cohen
Cohen memorializes Janis Joplin’s last whisper to him in the Chelsea Hotel, “Well never mind we are ugly but we have the music.” And I would say, when you’ve lost your way, when you’re searching for the light – create. Like Cohen, seek wisdom. Spread your skills and celebrate Thanksgiving with a cornucopia of creativity. Neither politics nor art should foment hate, or fabricate then validate untruth. Counter a tainted menu of backsliding and illuminate your November. All creative endeavors reveal answers. Give thanks for the power of song and treat yourself to an evening of the late great Leonard Cohen. You won’t be sorry. Godspeed Leonard.
“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
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
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
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, 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
My very dearest Martha.
My heart is full. The poetry of Leonard Cohen leaves me such. Every time.
If reminded to express gratitude this Thanksgiving day, I will declare just how fortunate I feel to be able to create. To be a person who needs to create. I don't feel well if I don't. Actually, it's not what I do. It's who I am.
I choose light to see. Everything.
I choose darkness to sleep, to dream while my brain sweeps out waste.
Novembers have come and gone. Be brave dearest Martha, be brave.
You share your riches…and there are many…and all you touch have much to be grateful for!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Martha – Thank you for including me in your blog. We share a disappointment in our country, but the sharp edges are finally wearing off. I was up two nights in mid month, meditating with that beautiful moon, blessing again the peace of the small hours. It seems to take a larger number of small joys to outweigh the crassness in our society's evolution, but the search can be infinitely rewarding. Years ago a friend gave us a copy of Leonard Cohen's first album. Very moderate singer at the time, but always and forever a poet. Much to be thankful for.
Like a bird on a wire…flown away. He was great! Wishing you the best, Martha. Happy Holiday. Teri
Hallelujah!
Leonard Cohen was my Nietzsche and Camus, he was my W B Yeates, and I am left bereft by his passing. I was able to buy “You Want It Darker” a day before its release, thanks to the kind record store owner in carlsbad I befriended. Thank you, Martha, for your dedication to a man whose words and wisdom and truths stood apart from all that makes up today’s world. Cohen has made up the background music to my life for three decades; his passing forges an emptiness that will not be easily contained.
He added color and weight to my life, so …
You want it darker,
We kill the flame.
Cheers,
Atussa
Martha..Sweet sister in law, Hung out at the Chelsea Hotel in the Big Apple. Leonard Cohen was there. You know THE UNMADE BED and all. Good guy. I enjoy your musings. Keep it up, it’s lively and amusing. Have a nice evening. Be a good girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.Kevin H.