Field Commander Cohenhe was our most important spy.
Wounded in the line of duty
Parachuting acid into diplomatic cocktail parties
Urging Fidel Castro to abandon fields and castles.
Leave it all and like a man
Come back to nothing special
Such as waiting rooms and ticket lines
Silver bullet suicides
And messianic ocean tides
And racial roller-coaster rides
And other forms of boredom advertised as poetry.

I know you need your sleep now
I know your life s been hard.
But many men are falling
Where you promised to stand guard.

I never asked but I heard you cast your lot along with the poor.
But then I overheard your prayer
That you be this and nothing more
Than just some grateful faithful woman s favourite singing millionaire
The patron Saint of envy and the grocer of despair
Working for the Yankee Dollar.

I know you need your sleep now ...

Ahlover come and lie with meif my lover is who you are
And be your sweetest self awhile until I ask for moremy child.
Then let the other selves be wrongyeahlet them manifest and come
Till every taste is on the tongue
Till love is pierced and love is hung
And every kind of freedom donethen oh
Oh my loveoh my loveoh my love
Oh my loveoh my loveoh my love.

- Back to the Songs of the Album New Skin For The Old Ceremony

- Back to the Leonard Cohen's Albums