Leonard Cohen in Victoria

A few of us very blessed Victorians got to see Leonard Cohen perform the night before last. I'm sure we'd all like to send a big thank you out into the ether - for the concert, his (and his band's) generous contribution to the bushfire relief fund, and for singing 'Anthem' for us all (but, more particularly, for those dirctly hit by the bushfire - who had somehow made it to the concert):



The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what
Has passed away
Or what is yet to be

(Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in)

inspiration - song and poetry

Words can create beautiful images and be an inspiration for artists. Here are Leonard Cohen's moving words from the Ballad of the Absent Mare:

'Oh the world is sweet the world is wide and she's there where the light and the darkness divide and the steam's coming off her she's huge and she's shy and she steps on the moon when she paws at the sky

And she comes to his hand but she's not really tame She longs to be lost he longs for the same and she'll bolt and she'll plunge through the first open pass to roll and to feed in the sweet mountain grass
...

And he leans on her neck and he whispers low "Whither thou goest I will go" And they turn as one and they head for the plain No need for the whip Ah, no need for the rein'

- Ballad of the Absent Mare, Leonard Cohen