Monday, April 16, 2012

One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong

I hate to keep hammering away on Leonard Cohen, but read these lyrics. Does this sound like the ultimate broken heart to you?


One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong"

I lit a thin green candle, to make you jealous of me.
But the room just filled up with mosquitos,
they heard that my body was free.
Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night
and I put it in your little shoe.
And then I confess that I tortured the dress
that you wore for the world to look through.
I showed my heart to the doctor: he said I just have to quit.
Then he wrote himself a prescription,
and your name was mentioned in it!
Then he locked himself in a library shelf
with the details of our honeymoon,
and I hear from the nurse that he's gotten much worse
and his practice is all in a ruin.

I heard of a saint who had loved you,
so I studied all night in his school.
He taught that the duty of lovers
is to tarnish the golden rule.
And just when I was sure that his teachings were pure
he drowned himself in the pool.
His body is gone but back here on the lawn
his spirit continues to drool.

An Eskimo showed me a movie
he'd recently taken of you:
the poor man could hardly stop shivering,
his lips and his fingers were blue.
I suppose that he froze when the wind took your clothes
and I guess he just never got warm.
But you stand there so nice, in your blizzard of ice,
oh please let me come into the storm.

The man can write. He captures emotion emotionally, powerfully, honestly. Your heart aches for his aching heart. The imagery is exquisite and unique.
Oh no. I sound like a critic. I have lost my mind. What qualifications do I have that allow me to express opinion?
Or am I just a fan?
Wait. I am human. Yeah, that's the ticket. I am human.

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