All That's In-Between

Leonard Cohen amends everyday life

into harmonized text of gold.

Every Pebble

Every pebble dreams of itself

Every leaf has a scheme

The sun is by desire bound

to travel down a beam

Defeated still I cannot yield

my heart to blessed peace

because I dream that there are chains

I dream there is release

I told this to the prisoner

who killed the man I hate

I told it to the miner

who dug up my golden plate

Therefore do I live in hell

For dreaming that hell is

the distance that I dare to put

between my hand and his

I dreamed my body yesternight

I dreamed the universe

I dreamed I dreamed a thousand years

in order to rehearse

the seven days of wonderment

when, drawn from the mist

I was clothed in nakedness

and suffered to exist

I dreamed that I was given song

to be my early proof

that my dwelling place with you

has neither ground nor roof

nor windows to look out of, Lord,

nor mirrors to look in

nor singing to be out of it

nor dying to begin

O child this is your human dream

this is your human sleep

and do not strive so hard to climb

from what is sound and deep

I love the dream that you've begun

beneath my evergreen

I love the pebble and the sun

and all that's in-between

And for this conversation

in the early morning light

I offer up these shabby days

that fray before your sight

Nor can I know how many more

will pass ere I'm unstrung

and all that left this song you placed

upon your creature's tongue.

– Leonard Cohen