Well, this is a shock. Just got the word that Leonard Cohen has checked out and moved on. Thought this week was rotten already; it just got exponentially worse.
Rest in peace, our man of poetry and song.
Two Went to Sleep
Two went to sleep
almost every night
one dreamed of mud
one dreamed of Asia
visiting a zeppelin
visiting Nijinsky
Two went to sleep
one dreamed of ribs
one dreamed of senators
Two went to sleep
two travellers
The long marriage
in the dark
The sleep was old
the travellers were old
one dreamed of oranges
one dreamed of Carthage
Two friends asleep
years locked in travel
Good night my darling
as the dreams waved goodbye
one travelled lightly
one walked through water
visiting a chess game
visiting a booth
always returning
to wait out the day
One carried matches
one climbed a beehive
one sold an earphone
one shot a German
Two went to sleep
every sleep went together
wandering away
from an operating table
one dreamed of grass
one dreamed of spokes
one bargained nicely
one was a snowman
one counted medicine
one tasted pencils
one was a child
one was a traitor
visiting heavy industry
visiting the family
Two went to sleep
none could foretell
one went with baskets
one took a ledger
one night happy
one night in terror
Love could not bind them
Fear could not either
they went unconnected
they never knew where
always returning
to wait out the day
parting with kissing
parting with yawns
visiting Death till
they wore out their welcome
visiting Death till
the right disguise worked
Leonard Cohen ~ 1964
So beautiful. Leonard Cohen is surely one of your National Treasures.
I was browsing through a “Modern Canadian Poetry” book and this one really stood out. I wasn’t familiar with it at all, but I loved it, and thought it worthy of sharing. So glad you enjoyed it. Leonard Cohen is definitely in the National Treasure category!
I was glad to see that shortly before he died, he said that he was ready to go. That’s a good way to feel, I expect, at the end of your life, and it sounds like he died peacefully. So sad to lose him, though.
Bittersweet. His music was the soundtrack to a lot of people’s lives, mine included. But his passing did sound peaceful from what we’ve heard, so there is that to be grateful for.
Lovely, thank you.
You’re so welcome!
[…] to accompany a “lost” interview from 1974. In the interview, Cohen reads his poem “Two Went to Sleep”, a rather strange and somewhat sinister piece that dates back to the mid-1960s, then relates the […]
[…] Leonard Cohen ~ 1964 […]
[…] years later, WBAI’s Kathleen Kendel came armed with a poem for Cohen to read on air, and also plumbed him as to the origins of “Sisters of Mercy,” one of […]
[…] years later, WBAI’s Kathleen Kendel came armed with a poem for Cohen to read on air, and also plumbed him as to the origins of “Sisters of Mercy,” one of […]
[…] years later, WBAI’s Kathleen Kendel came armed with a poem for Cohen to read on air, and also plumbed him as to the origins of “Sisters of Mercy,” one of […]
[…] animation kicks off with a reading of his 1964 poem, “Two Went to Sleep,” an elliptical journey into the realm of the unconscious, a setting that preoccupied Cohen the […]