Thursday, August 03, 2006

The Covenant

(after Leonard Cohen)


I am not Marianne
and this is no so long.
It is the last day
of a good year where the
old sun has dared it's shine.
A believer in portents
would say a blessing has been served.

And so a harvest glows between us.
A flame that moves us both,
as I hang upon your cruciform
braced for this acceptance:

our covenant is given freely --
not said, nor signed, nor sealed.
It is the motion between two
that transfigures life for moments.



This was originally written in November 2003. I have long held a fascination with Leonard Cohen's lyrics and poetry and there are shades of 'So Long Marianne,' in this poem in that I felt I wanted to give the woman's side of things.

5 comments:

Kay Cooke said...

Beautiful. I love that song too and you have treated it well. Just lovely.

mareymercy said...

I don't know that song...I'll have to find and give it a listen. Love those first two lines!

Unknown said...

Nice treatment, am a particular fan of the gravel toned Cohen. He writes beautiful lyrics.

apprentice said...

Love Cohen. I like the idea of telling the flip side

Some of my fav lines are from Blue Raincoat: "You showed her a flake of your like" and something like "you took the trouble from her eyes, I thought it was there, so I never tried."

Unknown said...

Thanks very much to you all fro dropping by and commenting - all gratefully appreciated!

I've been off camping with the kids and himsha, so am still in recuperation mode - more anon!