On November 7, 2016 songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen died. Earlier, before his passing, Joe Nagy, regular contributor to Just a Thought, penned this wonderful tribute. We share it with you again.
I have just finished reading a biography of the Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. He has accumulated about every award you can get in his profession: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Order of Canada, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, PEN award for Literary Excellence, etc., etc. He is an observant Jew and an ordained Buddhist monk who has battled a life-long depression which has only recently lifted. At age 78, he is still touring and releasing albums. More than one music critic has said that he is second only to Bob Dylan in his influence on popular music.
I have listened to his songs for over 40 years now, and after reading his life story, I realize that I had already learned all I really needed to know about him from his music. His songs are his life. His themes are longing, loss, and regret, but also faith, acceptance and love.
His song “Anthem” acknowledges the brokenness of every human being, while affirming a faith in redemption:
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. You can add up the parts, you won’t have the sum. You can strike up the march, there is no drum. Every heart, every heart to love will come – but like a refugee.
I especially like that last line: “Every heart to love will come – but like a refugee.”
He does not say that love will come to us – he says we will come to love, eventually, after we have lost all our illusions. We are all refugees in search of love. We won’t find it where we first seek it. We won’t recognize it right away. We are poor judges in that respect. But if we remain open, and wait in humility, we will find it.
His song “Hallelujah” has been called “the closest thing pop music has to a sacred text.”
There’s a blaze of light in every word. It doesn’t matter which are heard. The holy or the broken Hallelujah. And even though it all went wrong. I’ll stand before the Lord of Song. With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.
It is an affirmation of life, a testament of faith, an acknowledgement of a power greater than us.
To stand before life at age 78, to acknowledge that “it all went wrong,” yet to sing words of praise to all that was and all that is and all that will be, is indeed a sacred act.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Just a Thought…
Joe Nagy
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