Happy Seventy-Two to You, Dear Leonard...
-
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:02 am
- Location: Sweden
Dear Leonard~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I wrote the poem below last year after watching: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen." It was around the time that your financial status was in chaos, but you of course were not. The worse poems are the ones that need explanation. Since this calls for one, I need say no more about that....Hope you and yours are well. For what it is worth, your music entered my life about 5 years ago when nothing else would have helped, it did. Thank you. Oh yeah, my birthday is: 11-11, in case you feel the urge to write me a poem (hahaha). Love and best wishes, Laurie Eckhout. Juneau, Alaska
Present Moment
(for Leonard Cohen on his birthday)
The camera watched, in zealous pursuit of a prized poet.
I watched you, so young, refusing
to sleep, in creamy shades of gray.
Forty winters later,
seventy-one candles flicker. Something
resembling a gift, knit by thieves
shrouds you now: A scarf
whose threads separate
your heart from head.
While the simplicity of empty
pockets dispels a scent twisting
like smoke from wicks, presenting
a fate you yourself wished for
long before blowing out the lights--
Long before you knew of fire at all.
Please, sit here, dearest Leonard,
in this chair with a generous view.
Let woven threads around your neck
reveal themselves to you. Note those
specks of famous blue next to
anonymous white. Fragments of
a sweater lost are found again tonight.
Those suits and ties and blankets
you long ago exchanged
are tangled into a kaleidoscope
of yarns spun from your life, then
knitted by thieves who were hired
to choose this gift by you.
Present Moment
(for Leonard Cohen on his birthday)
The camera watched, in zealous pursuit of a prized poet.
I watched you, so young, refusing
to sleep, in creamy shades of gray.
Forty winters later,
seventy-one candles flicker. Something
resembling a gift, knit by thieves
shrouds you now: A scarf
whose threads separate
your heart from head.
While the simplicity of empty
pockets dispels a scent twisting
like smoke from wicks, presenting
a fate you yourself wished for
long before blowing out the lights--
Long before you knew of fire at all.
Please, sit here, dearest Leonard,
in this chair with a generous view.
Let woven threads around your neck
reveal themselves to you. Note those
specks of famous blue next to
anonymous white. Fragments of
a sweater lost are found again tonight.
Those suits and ties and blankets
you long ago exchanged
are tangled into a kaleidoscope
of yarns spun from your life, then
knitted by thieves who were hired
to choose this gift by you.
Happy Birthday Leonard
http://members.chello.nl/w.lageveen/Poem.html
Have a very happy day and we hope that we will have the opportunity to see and to hear you next year. Many happy years to come. A toast with a red needle to your health.
Sincerely
Wijbe and Willy, from Holland

Have a very happy day and we hope that we will have the opportunity to see and to hear you next year. Many happy years to come. A toast with a red needle to your health.
Sincerely
Wijbe and Willy, from Holland
Last edited by Wybe on Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
- Posts: 54
- Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:41 pm
- liverpoolken
- Posts: 3174
- Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 11:25 pm
Dear Leonard...
Looks like we all woke up this morning remembering that today is your birthday. So here we all are, gathered together in this one spot... and can you believe it, none of us are bickering?!? Heheh... maybe that will be your birthday present this year.
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, Leonard, and all that other good stuff that always gets said when one has a birthday.
Thank you for everything you've given us. I think we can all agree that life would have been a lot harder all these years if your work hadn't come our way.
Mazel Tov!
Bobbie
Looks like we all woke up this morning remembering that today is your birthday. So here we all are, gathered together in this one spot... and can you believe it, none of us are bickering?!? Heheh... maybe that will be your birthday present this year.
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, Leonard, and all that other good stuff that always gets said when one has a birthday.
Thank you for everything you've given us. I think we can all agree that life would have been a lot harder all these years if your work hadn't come our way.
Mazel Tov!
Bobbie
- ForYourSmile
- Posts: 491
- Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:38 pm
- Location: So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
- Contact:
Dear Leonard,
Happy birthday.
All the best,
Antoni
Happy birthday.
All the best,
Antoni
Visit my personal site: Web of one Leonard Cohen's fan Updated January 2025.
Happy Birthday to you, ....
On the brink of a new day,
An eagle flies over the mountains,
As the first rays of sunshine,
Bursts through the dark clouds above.
The sounds of thunder,
Echoes no more.
The water is still,
A new morning has come.
Happy Birthday
Mr. Leonard Cohen
and let there be many years left to come
/Kern
An eagle flies over the mountains,
As the first rays of sunshine,
Bursts through the dark clouds above.
The sounds of thunder,
Echoes no more.
The water is still,
A new morning has come.
Happy Birthday
Mr. Leonard Cohen
and let there be many years left to come
/Kern