The Flame

Leonard Cohen, Robert Faggen, Alexandra Pleshoyano

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781786893130
• eBook ISBN: 9781786893154
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Music Biographies
• Index: Literature

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD FOR POETRY

The Flame is the final work from Leonard Cohen, the revered poet and musician whose fans span generations and whose work is celebrated throughout the world. Featuring poems, excerpts from his private notebooks, lyrics, and hand-drawn self-portraits, The Flame offers an intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist.

A reckoning with a life lived deeply and passionately, with wit and panache, this collection is a valedictory work.

Selections from THE NOTEBOOKS

but the times are long

it’s all a long time gone

when I had an honest job

and Annie called me darling

***

I don’t want to greet

the morning light

with a night like this

in my heart soul

Have mercy on those shadows

that fall in love with shadows

***

You’re going to fall some day

into a wild embrace

with one who turns away

so you cannot see his face

You won’t know who you are

You won’t know who he is

There’s no one there to know

a love so wild as this

He won’t be there before you

He won’t be here within

There’ll be no border to the heart

or boundary to the skin

He isn’t there before you

isn’t here within

No border to the heart

or boundary to the skin

***

When we are apart

and the moon is full

My longing

paints your hands

on the full moon

If you read this by candlelight

as it was written

if you are alone in a room

as I am

you will know that I love you

dear and distant wife

***

Formless dinosaurs

Ignorant of our stern judgement

the dinosaurs graze on stars

in the fields of night

I have no sorrow left

I neglected you a long time

but I neglected myself even longer

This night will never end

The morning will come to wash it away

with sunlight and commotion

I have no sorrow left

The stars are too dim for the night

I have no sorrow left

for the dinosaur

grazing on stars

in the fields of night

***

I loved my friends

I talked to them

for hours and hours

and I began

to want to be beautiful

and I grew

to hate beauty in others

Mind you

a monster

is not always beautiful

***

and here is a voice

I have been listening to

for a long time

it says: O G-d, I love you

it says: Child, I love you back

***

Wednesday 17th May 00

Thanks for turning me on

with your hatred of sex and men

and your drunken kisses

which were like someone

trying to eat my voice raw

like a living oyster

The Tibetan fairy-tales

of coming back

in a brand-new sack

to finish off your dinner

right to the end I wanted you

right to the bitter end

your breath like a morgue

your flesh undone

your juices gone

I was still sifting through

your boring conversation

for traces, for hints

that you ever thought of me

with longing

and found none

Thank you Heather

thanks for turning me on

and after a while I gave up

trying to satisfy you

I just wanted to stick it in

under any circumstances

self-respect, tenderness

every mask was torn

just a hunger with an arm

thanks for turning me on

just to be inside of you

just to know

for one fraction of a measure

that we were in

the world together

thank you, Beloved

for turning me off

and for turning me on

I thank the nameless one

and I thank the nameless many

***

L.A.

Friday August 5[?], 2000

I wanted you to love me

I needed you to love me

I h...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Also by Leonard Cohen
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Editorial Note
• Poems
• Lyrics
• Blue Alert
• Old Ideas
• Popular Problems
• You Want it Darker
• Leonard and Peter
• Selections from the Notebooks
• Acceptance Address for the Prince of Asturias Award
• Index of Titles / Drawings, First Lines
• Acknowledgements