poems that the Window and Alexandria Leaving are based on?

[zaidagal1]

Hi everyone! Anyon know where thse poems are...has anyone posted them on this forum anywhere? Thanks!

[Maarten]

Alexandra Leaving: http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/cavafy.html

[Judy]

The Window : viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16704

[tomsakic]

This being said: The Window is Leonard's own song (there is no poem on which it's based on), while Alexandra Leaving is based on Constantin Cavafis' poem The God Abandons Anthony.

Of course, The Window was heavily influenced by Leonard's reading at the time, as he wrote in album's liner notes - Rumi and Attar. There's also much else in it, like Cloud of Unknowing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cloud_of_Unknowing).

You can read recent in-depth analysis of the song by our Forum member Doron Cohen here on the website: http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/doron-window.pdf

[zaidagal1]

Thanks everyone for your great info!

I found this on the Marc Gaffe site.....where he documented various things Cohen has said about his songs. It looks like some of the lines do come from a persian poem.....

The Window
Hannover 11/11/79
It's a song that is based on an old Persian poem that says "Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love, O tangle of matter and ghost, O darling of angels, demons and saints." This is the first time I ever said it. I always sung it before. It's a song called "The Window".