Thousand kisses deep

lundi, le 01 février 2010

Thousand kisses deep
~Leonard Cohen

You came to me this morning
And you handled me like meat
You’d have to live alone to know
How good that feels how sweet
My mirror twin my next of kin
I’d know you in my sleep
And who but I would take you in
A thousand kisses deep?

I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat
I’m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet
Who loved you with her frozen love
Her second-hand physique
With all she is and all she was
A thousand kisses deep

I know you had to lie to me
I know you had to cheat
To pose all hot and high behind
The veils of sheer deceit
Our perfect porn aristocrat
So elegant and cheap
I’m old but I’m still into that
A thousand kisses deep

And I’m still working with the wine
Still dancing cheek to cheek
The band is playing Auld Lang Syne
The heart will not retreat
I ran with Diz and Danté
I never had their sweep
But once or twice they let me play
A thousand kisses deep

The autumn slipped across your skin
Got something in my eye
A light that doesn’t need to live
And doesn’t need to die
A riddle in the book of love
Obscure and obsolete
Till witnessed here in time and blood
A thousand kisses deep

I’m good at love I’m good at hate
It’s in between I freeze
Been working out but it’s too late
It’s been too late for years
But you look fine you really do
The pride of Boogie Street
Somebody must have died for you
A thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened
Like a lily to the heat
I’m just another snowman
Standing in the rain and sleet
But you don’t need to hear me now
And every word I speak
It counts against me anyhow
A thousand kisses deep

The ponies run the girls are young
The odds are there to beat
You win a while and then it’s done
Your little winning streak
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat
You live your life as if it’s real
A thousand kisses deep

I’m turning tricks; I’m getting fixed
I’m back on Boogie Street
You lose your grip and then you slip
Into the Masterpiece
And maybe I had miles to drive
And promises to keep
You ditch it all to stay alive
A thousand kisses deep

Confined to sex we pressed against
The limits of the sea:
I saw there were no oceans left
For scavengers like me
I made it to the forward deck
I blessed our remnant fleet
And then consented to be wrecked
A thousand kisses deep

I’m turning tricks I’m getting fixed
I’m back on Boogie Street
I guess they won’t exchange the gifts
That you were meant to keep
And sometimes when the night is slow
The wretched and the meek
We gather up our hearts and go
A Thousand Kisses Deep

And fragrant is the thought of you
The file on you complete
Except what we forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep

~Leonard Cohen : Live in London

I have fallen in love with this concert. With it’s heartache, it’s pain, it’s joy, it’s delight, it’s sheer, sheer genius. With sincerest apologies to Mr Cohen, I’ve made some gender changes to his poem.

(The story in the photograph: It has been raining so much of late that everything creeping, crawling, flying or simply able to move, has moved indoors. This moth was sitting on my window, staring at the grey outside.)