kagablog

(cento: a composition made up of quotations from other authors;Latin: patchwork garment)

once there was a path and a girl with chestnut hair - - - we met when we were almost young - - deep in the green lilac park - - you held on to me like i was a crucifix - - as we went kneeling through the dark - - - i loved you in the morning - our kisses deep and warm - - your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm - - yes - many loved before us - i know that we are not new - - in city and in forest they smiled like me and you - - - let me see you moving like they do in babylon - - show me slowly what i only know the limits of - - dance me very tenderly and dance me very long - - dance me to the wedding now - dance me on and on - - - there’s a concert hall in vienna - - where your mouth had a thousand reviews - - i remember you well in the chelsea hotel - - you were famous - your heart was a legend - - i thought you were the crown prince - - of all the wheels in ivory town - and everywhere that you wandered - - love seemed to go along with you - - - lost among the subway crowds - - i tried to catch your eye - - i saw you there with the rose in your teeth - - i’d been waiting - i was sure - - - but you’d been to the station to meet every train - - - i knew i was in danger of losing what i used to think was mine - - just dance me to the dark side of the gym - - chances are i’ll let you do most anything - - so we’re dancing close - the band is playing stardust - - balloons and paper streamers floating down on us - - - i know you’re hungry - i can hear it in your voice - - and there are many parts of me to touch - you have your choice - - - the women in your scrapbook - - - (i was in that army - yes i stayed a little while - - though i wore a uniform i was not born to fight) - - - now your love is a secret all over the block - - - i’m just a station on your way - - - where are you golden boy - - where is your famous golden touch? - - the sun pours down like honey - - and yes it’s come to this - it’s come to this - - hey prince you need a shave - - - i forget to pray for the angels - - and then the angels forget to pray for us - - - your letters they all say that you’re beside me now - - then why do i feel alone? - - i’m standing on a ledge and your fine spider web - - is fastening my ankle to a stone - - - everybody knows that you love me baby - - everybody knows that you really do - - everybody knows that you’ve been faithful - - ah - give or take a night or two - - everybody knows you’ve been discreet - - but there were so many people you just had to meet - - without your clothes - and everybody knows - - - and i can’t wait to tell you to your face - - and i can’t wait for you to take my place - - - i cannot follow you - my love - - you cannot follow me - - i am the distance you put between - - all of the moments that we will be - - - i choose the rooms that i live in with care - - the windows are small and the walls almost bare - - there’s only one bed and there’s only one prayer - - i listen all night for your step on the stair - - - i don’t like your fashion business mister - - and i don’t like those drugs that keep you thin - - - some women wait for jesus - and some women wait for cain - - i was waiting for a miracle - i waited half my life away - - - lately you’ve started to stutter - as though you had nothing to say - - - you don’t love me quite so fiercely now - - you’re weak and you’re harmless - - you’re sleeping in your harness - - - you thought that it could never happen - - to all the people you became - - the rain falls down on last year’s man - - that’s a crayon in his hand - - - like any dealer he was watching for the card - - that is so high and wild - - he’ll never need to deal another - - - (o you’ve seen that man before) - - his golden arm dispatching cards - - (but now it’s rusted from the elbow to the finger - - and he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter) - - - everybody knows that the dice are loaded - - everybody rolls with their fingers crossed - - everybody knows that the war is over - - everybody knows the good guys lost - - everybody knows the fight was fixed - - the poor stay poor - the rich get rich - - that’s how it goes - everybody knows - - - well - I found a silver needle - I put it into my arm - - it did some good - did some harm - - but the nights were cold - and it almost kept me warm - - - in a dream of hungarian lanterns - - in the mist of some sweet afternoon - - some girls wander by mistake - - into the mess that scalpels make - - - morning came and then came noon - - dinner time a scalpel blade - - lay beside my silver spoon - - those who earnestly are lost - - are lost and lost again - - - i journey down the hundred steps - - the street is still the very same - - was i - was i only limping - was i really lame? - - - i can’t run no more with this lawless crowd - - - you say you’ve been humbled in love - - cut down in your love - - - you say you’ve gone away from me - - (i see you’ve gone and changed your name again) - - but i can feel you when you breathe - - - you stumble into this movie-house - then climb in to the frame - - - your pain is no credential here - - of course you’ll say you can’t complain - - you who wish to conquer pain - - love calls you by your name - - - why do you stand by the window - - abandoned to beauty and pride - - the thorn of the night in your chest - - the spear of the age in your side - - lost in the rages of fragrance - - lost in the rags of remorse - - lost in the waves of a sickness - - that loosens the high silver nerves - - - yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control - - it begins with your family - but soon it comes around to your soul - - - well i’ve been where you’re hanging - i think i can see how you’re pinned - - when you’re not feeling holy - your loneliness says that you’ve sinned - - - it’s four in the morning - the end of december - - it’s dark now and it’s snowing - - the cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas - - the cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone - - - all the rocket-ships are climbing through the sky - - the holy books are open wide - - - the blizzard - the blizzard of the world - - has crossed the threshold - - - do you remember all of those pledges - - that we pledged in the passionate night - - ah they’re soiled now - they’re torn at the edges - - like moths on a still yellow light - - no penance serves to renew them - - no massive transfusions of trust - - why not even revenge can undo them - - so twisted these vows and so crushed - - - i’m cold as a new razor blade - - your shirt is all undone - - - will you kneel beside this bed - - that we polished so long ago - - your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red - - and you’re speaking far too low - - - you don’t know me from the wind - - you never will - you never did - - - the crumbs of love that you offer me - - they’re the crumbs I’ve left behind - - - and is this what you wanted - - to live in a house that is haunted - - by the ghost of you and me? - - - i’ve lain by this window long enough - - to get used to an empty room - - and your love is some dust in an old man’s cough - - who is tapping his foot to a tune - - - and why are you so quiet now - - standing there in the doorway? - - you chose your journey long before - - you came upon this highway - - remember when the scenery started fading - - i held you till you learned to walk on air - - so don’t look down the ground is gone - - there’s no one waiting anyway - - the smokey life is practised - -everywhere - - - looks like freedom but it feels like death - - - i balance on a wishing well that all men call the world - - we are so small between the stars - so large against the sky - - - and where do all these highways go - now that we are free? - - the age of lust is giving birth - and both the parents ask - - the nurse to tell them fairytales on both sides of the glass - - - there is a war between the rich and poor - - a war between the man and the woman - - there is a war between the ones who say there is a war - - and the ones who say there isn’t - - - there is a war between the left and right - - a war between the black and white - - a war between the odd and even - - - i can’t pretend i still feel very much like singing - - as they carry the bodies away - - - there’s blood on every bracelet - - you can see it - you can taste it - - - (every heart - every heart - - to love will come but like a refugee) - - - too early for the rainbow - too early for the dove - - these are the final days - this is the darkness - this is the flood - - and there is no man or woman who can’t be touched - - but you who come between them will be judged - - - so the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed - - it would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed - - - it’s like our visit to the moon or to that other star - - i guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far - - - it’s over - it ain’t going any further - - i’m sick of pretending - i’m broken from bending - - i’ve lived too long on my knees - - - the river is swollen up with rusty cans - - and the trees are burning in your promised land - - - along with several thousand dreams - - - there’s nothing left to do - - when you know that you’ve been taken - - - it’s CLOSING TIME.

* * *

lyrics taken from: songs of leonard cohen: suzanne; master song; winter lady; stranger song; sisters of mercy; so long marianne; hey, that’s no way to say goodbye; stories of the street; teachers i’m your man: first we take manhattan; ain’t no cure for love; everybody knows; take this waltz songs of love and hate: avalanche; last year’s man; dress rehearsal rag; diamonds in the mine; love calls you by your name; famous blue raincoat the future: the future; waiting for the miracle; closing time; anthem; light as the breeze death of a ladies’ man: iodine; paper thin hotel; memories; death of a ladies’ man songs from a room: the old revolution; the butcher; you know who i am; tonight will be fine new skin for the old ceremony: is this what you wanted; chelsea hotel #2; there is a war various positions: dance me to the end of love recent songs: the guests; humbled in love; the window; the gypsy’s wife; the smokey life