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I'm currently studying Leonard Cohens work in relation to anxiety and gender relations for my dissertation at uni and I'm just tryin to get a general feel for peoples response to this song. I''ve kind of interepted it as poem that has been born from anxiety...by which I mean that Cohen is expressing his insecurities by presenting the man he wishes he could be...ie one that can fly without any hands and one which the woman desires, and places them together. I think at the end he suggests he sent the man as a test in order to regain some sort of power of her but the power relation is shifted again as she hasn't passed the test as he thought she would.I think the relationship between the three people could be either literal ie an actual affair/ love triangle or a metaphorical one ie the different facets of Cohens persona. I'm not too sure what to make of the heavy religous theme, i think i see it as Cohen's way satirising the situation?! any thoughts would be welcomed?!?!?!!?

thank you

I read somewhere that it's simply Trinity.

Now, I don't know how true that is... it's a balanced triangle of power and desire. A dynamic balance where one time you think that one is the master, and then it shifts, and the other one seems to be the REAL master now... and then you wonder, is the woman the master?... and so on..

You may wish to consult – if you haven’t done so yet – the article by Judith Fitzgerald on the LC Files:

http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/jfmaster.html

She focused on the religious themes and the Trinity, which is one major way of reading the song. I would suggest also the obvious need to read it in the key of the 1960’s, with gurus in fashion and so on; LC’s take on these is half serious, half ironic. Sorry, but no time for further comments now, perhaps later.