Wednesday 24 August 2016

Leonard Cohen: Steer Your Way

Steer your way through the ruins of the Altar and the Mall
Steer your way through the fables of Creation and the Fall 
Steer your way past the Palaces that rise above the rot 
Year by year
Month by month  
Day by day 
Thought by thought

Steer your heart past the Truth you believed in yesterday 
Such as Fundamental Goodness and the Wisdom of the Way
Steer your heart, precious heart, past the women whom you bought  
Year by year 
Month by month 
 Day by day 
Thought by thought

Steer your path through the pain that is far more real than you 
That has smashed the Cosmic Model, that has blinded every View  
And please don’t make me go there, though there be a God or not 
Year by year 
Month by month  
Day by day  
Thought by thought

They whisper still, the injured stones, the blunted mountains weep 
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make things cheap 
And say the Mea Culpa, which you’ve gradually forgot  
Year by year 
 Month by month  
Day by day  
Thought by thought

Steer your way, O my heart, though I have no right to ask  
To the one who was never never equal to the task  
Who knows he’s been convicted, who knows he will be shot 
Year by year  
Month by month  
Day by day  
Thought by thought 

+
So Long, Marianne  (Oslo 1993)

No comments:

Post a Comment