As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the world said goodbye to Leonard Cohen. The Montreal-born crooner was a legend in the music world and many of his songs have gone down as classics, thanks in no small part to his beautiful and impactful lyrics. While Canadians are lucky enough to call Mr. Cohen a fellow countryman, his music has touched people from all over the world, as we’ve seen this week.
While the passing of such a talent is always sad news, but Cohen’s death hit particularly hard as the world was sorely in need of some beautiful words this week. Regardless of your own politics or what you thought of the outcome of the recent US election, you must respect the fact that many people feel sad and even scared at the world they now live in. At times like this, words of inspiration are treasured and, as with any great lyricist, Cohen’s words ring true even today.
There is a crack in everything/ That’s how the light gets in.
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin/ Dance me through the panic ’til I’m gathered safely in
So come, my friends, be not afraid/ We are so lightly here/ It is in love that we are made;/ In love we disappear
And who by brave assent, who by accident/ who in solitude, who in this mirror/ who by his lady’s command, who by his own hand/ who in mortal chains, who in power/ and who shall I say is calling?
The birds they sang/ at the break of day/ Start again/ I heard them say
Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey/ I ache in the places where I used to play
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began/ To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again
I forget to pray for the angels/ And then the angels forget to pray for us
Oh like a bird on the wire/ Like a drunk in a midnight choir have tried in my way to be free.
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking/ Everybody knows that the captain lied
I did my best, it wasn’t much/ I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
And it’s not a cry that you hear at night/ It’s not somebody who’s seen the light/ It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
And all the rain falls down amen/ On the works of last year’s man
And there are no letters in the mailbox/ And there are no grapes upon the vine/ And there are no chocolates in the boxes anymore/ And there are no diamonds in the mine
You want it darker/ We kill the flame
There were lots of invitations/ And I know you sent me some/ But I was waiting/ For the miracle, for the miracle to come
Ring the bells that still can ring …