HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONARD!

[Gregor]

Leonard,


Ring the bells that can be rung
You have rang all the bells for me and you shall ring many more I have no doubt, thank you for Dublin (for me) and for Edinburgh
We are having a party for you and wish you to attend your voice wll be here if not you and you will be in our hearts and minds
Happy Birthday and I will see you in Cardiff.


Gregor.

[ladydi]

A very very Happy Birthday Leonard. I have known of you for decades but really only discovered you about 8 months ago! Now I can't get enough of you.....books, poetry, music, art. Through you I have come to Anjani and so many others your life has touched either professionally, romantically or both. My life is much the richer for having you and your amazing talent in it. Thank you, thank you. All best wishes for an amazing birthday in Bucharest!

I am so excited and looking forward to seeing you in Cophenhagen in October ! An overnight trip from America but it will be worth every moment!

Diana

[Amrei]

Happy birthday, Leonard!

Thank You so much for Your music, Your poems and Your art. I have been listening to Your music for the last 20 years and I have not enough words to describe, how much this meant to me.
For the next concerts, I will bring my own children, who don´t speak English yet, but can sing all of Your songs anyway.
I want them to experience the amazing atmosphere and to listen to Your voice in real, not only from a CD.
So we will see You in Copenhagen and Hamburg.
I wish You a happy birthday, a long and happy life and the inspiration for many more songs!

Yours sincerely, Amrei

[Heike]

Dear Leonard,

Here's wishing you a Fantastic Birthday and many happy returns of the day!
To give one's favourite poet a poem as a gift may be a bit pretentious, but here goes:

Simple and True

This summer that rained
This winter that shone
A kind of tenderness
As yet unknown
All this, all this
I dedicate to you

Beneath this canopy
Where my night belongs
You sang me stories
Read me songs

And the noise
And the blood
And the unyielding flood
All this, all this
I dedicate to you

Ride on this vessel
Sail this train
The place that's on no map
You'll always find again

The tangled thread
Of my sensations
An island of bliss
In an ocean of patience
All this, all this
I dedicate to you

Unlikely though it may seem, you have been a constant source of inspiration.

Thank you for being who you are, and for gracing the stage again with your presence !

With best wishes,
Heike

[imaginary friend]

Dear Leonard,

Happy birthday to the sexiest septuagenarian ever.

Thanks for the many gifts you've shared with us, and special thanks for being my imaginary friend forever.

XO

Sheila

[abby]

Happy birthday, old man. I always did like old men.
For your birthday this year, I'm giving you a little gift I give myself on certain sad mornings, so if you're ever doomed to another sad morning, remember this from Pema Chodron:
“When you wake up in the morning and out of nowhere comes the heartache of alienation and loneliness, could you use that as a golden opportunity? Rather than persecuting yourself or pretending that something terribly wrong is happening, right there in the moment of sadness and longing, could you relax and touch the limitless space of the human heart?”
I hope you never need it.

Abby

[ForYourSmile]

This is a photo of the arch of Elvira. I think that is not the one than you imagined long time ago. Anyway I hope it would have inspired you beautiful images and good dreams.

The arch of Elvira is in Granada, Spain, the country of Javier Mas, Alberto Manzano and Federico García Lorca.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
and thanks for all those great moments of happiness and poetry than you've given to us.

Sincerely, Antoni

[Laura]

I always wanted to write in this thread, but I never managed to find good-enough words.

I practically grew up in the Cohen community. Besides the books, music, and beautiful places that I found through the people here, I also learned how to talk with people, how to write in english, how to joke and tease (in any language), how to accept people who are different from me. I learned to make friends and to make love. And later I learned that friends disappoint you and love hurts!Sometimes I left, sometimes I came back; every time I came, I found a new taste in life, and a new shade in your music.

And now... life is still much more unexpected than I could have ever imagined. I never dared to think I'd get to see you in my own always-ignored country; and even more to wish you happy birthday here! So happy birthday, and thank you for everything. All I can wish you is to feel back ALL the joy you have given people, in all this time.

Laura

[Rasb utin]

Oh Leonard. Have the very best day and the very best year, if there is any power in my prayers. My sisters and my mother and I were so glad to be with you again in Toronto, to have the chance to share your space with each other again. Since the moment your voice broke through the long night of fear when I was eleven you have had the power to show me immortality. You gave me peace when the madness took my father, and later when it made Jenn so incredulous. Some day in heaven we will share a wonderful glass of red wine while my sister Sarah gives orders to the musicians. If you ever need a Sanctuary, know that you are loved and will always be loved by four of the strongest women god never made (my oldest sister prefers handsome men with lots of tattoos or it would be five).

Thank you for all you do and all you are, and sharing that with the world.

[st theresa]

Dear Leonard
Your concert in Alges was the start of a wonderful spiritual pilgrimage for me in Portugal and Spain. Thank you for listening to
the voice that guides you and for sharing that with us. So many have said it and I must repeat--we are so lucky to have you as a voice of our time. May all the saints and angels, prophets and priests, raise their voices in celebration of your birthday.
Hallelujah.

[jeremek]

Dear Leonard

Most probably you aren't searching for the poetry. Especially from somebody unknown. Indifferent.
Perhaps this present is too small. But I will try. I will risk.
It is my poem for You, Leonard !
"Vision". Written now. In September. And "Une Lettre...". Written earlier. In Loerrach. In this special night. In the hotel. Before the concert. I not even slept minutes. Wonderful sleeplessness.
Thanks to you. In all sleepless nights. With your music and the word. I thank. For days, in a dream. I thank.
I thank for thirty five years of my life "with you" !

Nous avons besoin de l`amour et nous la cherchons.
Quiqonque soutient qu`il s`est abandonne – ment.
/LEONARD COHEN/

Vision

je crois
qu`il existe quelque part
au bout du chemin
un miroir sans spectre
et des mains
vraiment chaudes

je crois
qu`il existe aussi
quelque part
au commencement
un vide qui n`est pas triste
et un sourire
qui ne s`eteint jamais

je crois que tu existes
que tu peux
que tu veux
dans un bateau
dans un train
en marchant
at s`assayant sur le chemin
quand la fatigue arrive

et quand de nouveau
tu te penches
sur un mot
ton souci
reveille l`espoir

le temps passe

et bien que tu te changes
et tu changes le teint des cheveux
ta silhouette me preche toi-meme

parce que c`est toi !
mon amour


septembre 2008
auteur: Beata Maria Woloszyn

[jeremek]

Une lettre a quatre heures du matin



Cher Leonard

Je ne viens pas de Pologne
Je ne t`ai pas ecrit plusieurs lettres
Et dans la derniere je n`ai pas mentionne le „Livre de Nostalgie“
Ta dedicace n`est pas arrivee
Bien que je sois sure
Que tu ne l`as ecrite que pour moi
Ces paroles ne sont pas parvenues a mes oreilles
N`ont pas plongees dans le coeur
Bien qu`elles caressent mes cheveux
Je ne t`aime pas toute ma vie
Je ne soutiens pas que j`ai trouve
Ce que je cherchais
Et tu es le seul a savoir
Que tout
Sauf l`entete
Est un
Mensonge


Je joins mon estime
B. Woloszyn

Loerrach 2008, 25 juillet

/author: Beata Maria Woloszyn that is jeremek, translator: Tomasz Orzechowski /

[shaunagh]

Hello Leonard

Wishing you a very happy birthday, and many happy returns. Et tout simplement, thank you for your work, which is one of a few rare and wonderful things that bring me home while in this crazy world. Oh and thanks for helping me with my list (things to do before I die – item 23 – see Leonard Cohen play live – never thought I’d get to fulfil that one but here I am having done it in Montreal, London and soon Paris!).

Yours warmly and with much admiration and appreciation,
Shaunagh Darling Robertson

PS. Should there be a next time around, j'aimerais bien revenir en forme de mec and hang out with you and Irving for a while (I rather suspect I’d have more fun with you guys as a man than as a woman!). By way of credentials - I'm pretty sure I could hold my own in the longing department, and gave my time equally to black dogs, red wine and older men in my younger days...

Cohen koan

Longing with Leonard.
Longing with Leonar.
Longing with Leona.
Longing with Leon.
Longing with Leo.
Longing with Le.
Longing with L.
Longing with.
Longing.
.

[Annick]

You are the eternal 'jeune homme' who makes us dream again and again for decades, with charm, intelligence, humour, philosophy.
May this go on longtemps, longtemps, longtemps.
Wish you a birthday full of love, happiness and health.
Annick

[Paul Zagreb]

Happy Birthday, Leonard

Thank-you for all the gifts you have given your fans over so long
Special thanks for the gifts of summer and now autumn

May you laugh and cry but always finally laugh about it all again
You have our enduring affection and there is no need to work hard for our smiles

with hearfelt thanks and joy

Paul