Thursday, August 25, 2016

The Heart in Poems: Leonard Cohen (I)



Steer Your Way


Steer your way through the ruins of the Altar and the Mall
Steer your way through the fables of Creation and the Fall
Steer your way past the Palaces that rise above the rot
Year by year
Month by month 
Day by day
Thought by thought 

Steer your heart past the Truth you believed in yesterday
Such as Fundamental Goodness and the Wisdom of the Way
Steer your heart, precious heart, past the women whom you bought
 Year by year
Month by month 
Day by day
Thought by thought

Steer your path through the pain that is far more real than you
That has smashed the Cosmic Model, that has blinded every View 
And please don’t make me go there, though there be a God or not
Year by year
Month by month 
Day by day 
Thought by thought

They whisper still, the injured stones, the blunted mountains weep
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make things cheap
And say the Mea Culpa, which you’ve gradually forgot
 Year by year 
Month by month 
Day by day 
Thought by thought 

Steer your way, O my heart, though I have no right to ask 
To the one who was never never equal to the task 
Who knows he’s been convicted, who knows he will be shot
Year by year 
Month by month 
Day by day 
Thought by thought

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