I've been listening to the songs of Leonard Cohen. I find his voice and the cadences and rhythms of his music particularly soothing and comforting. Healing even. And my spirit badly needs soothing, comforting, and healing in these tumultuous and angry times.
There are several of his songs that are especially meaningful to me, but this one seems singularly appropriate this week. And before it was a song, it was a poem and a prayer.
Come healing of the body, mind, spirit, limb, reason, and heart. We need you.
Come Healing
by Leonard Cohen
O gather up the brokenness
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow
The splinters that you carry
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace
O solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
O see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart
O troubled dust concealing
An undivided love
The Heart beneath is teaching
To the broken Heart above
O let the heavens falter
And let the earth proclaim:
Come healing of the Altar
Come healing of the Name
O longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O longing of the arteries
To purify the blood
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
Thanks. I needed that too.
ReplyDeleteLeonard's still healing us even though he no longer walks among us.
DeleteHow beautiful and soothing the cadence of the poem is.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Listening to him perform it is even more soothing.
Delete