Cohen Poems | Examples

Trying To Live In Your Shadow

I have not prayed enough to be like you,
I have not loved enough to write like you.
The night is my god, stars my angels
I'll never touch,
while the darkness that hides in my pockets
my lover, but we may speak to one another
in the ten minute afterlife of my brain,
trying to catch up to its dead body.
The conversation agreeable
until you joke that my heaven
is your hell, and I realize
the real Leonard Cohen more sophisticated
than such humour, proving
we all really die alone.

From: People More Famous Than Me (Published 2022)

Premium Member The Lepre-Cohen

On Saint Pat’s Day, with the Guinness flowin’
All night long the blarney was blown’
I’ll trap a Leprechaun—I’d shout 
With chicken soup, not stout!
Then caught the rarely seen Lepre-Cohen!

Written 3/27/22
Form: Limerick


How I Want To Die

There's a boy who's crying in sheer dread
I want to save him
From the gun that's pointed 'gainst his head
I want to save him

There's a girl who's shivering in the cold
I want to save her
From the knife pressed hard against her throat
I want to save her

I'll take a bullet from a gun
A knife wound in my chest
That's how I want to die
Just like a Catcher in the Rye

Bullet from a gun
Knife wound in my chest
That's how I want to die
Just like a Catcher in the Rye

Don't want to wither away
Feeling my body in decay

When my time comes
Let me go protecting God's little ones

Let me go quickly in Glory and Grace

There are kids who suffer everywhere
I want to save them
From the wounds that they can hardly bear
I want to save them

There's a boy who's crying in his sleep
I want to save them
From the angry man he could have been
I want to save them

I'll take a bullet from a gun
A knife wound in my chest
That's how I want to die
Just like a Catcher in the Rye

Bullet from a gun
Knife wound in my chest
That's how I want to die
Just like a Catcher in the Rye

How I want to die....
Form: Ballad

I Had a Dream

A great man had a dream
Ending in a murder scene
And I'm not such a man
Never been so brave or grand

But little one
I had a dream
About a nation that became...

A dazzling sky
The heroes of youth
A burning ache
Resurrecting Truth

My dreamy one
I had a dream
About a nation that became...

A guiding hand
Wipes the greed away
A whistle blown
Digs corruption's grave

My dreamy one
I had a dream
About a nation that became...

A jasmine wind
Turns the air so sweet
A cleansing spring
Washes stained elites

Oh, little one
I had a dream
About a nation that became...

A brilliant star
'Bove a poor man's house
A treasure chest
Let the magic out

My dreamy one
I had a dream
Oh, dreamy one, Oh, dreamy one
I had a dream...

This shadow of a man
Had a dream he can't forget
A shadow with a dream
A nation changed, a nation blessed

And let us sing...

Lux et Veritas... Victoria
Let's make our dreams come true
Lux et Veritas... Victoria
And the dream begins with you

My dreamy one
I had a dream
A nation changed
A nation blessed
Form: Ballad

Poet Or Sinner

You knew me when I built monsters
Before the days when you bled
You knew me when I surrendered
To the nightmares in my head

You were just a child
Nothing's ever changed
I see the child in you
Like some eternal flame

Come take my hand
Share my lonely dinner
Tell me if you think
I'm a poet or sinner

Poet or sinner
Tell me what I am
Poet or sinner
Be the angel who can

Raise the dead
While marshmallow dreams
Drown in the tide

Change my world
With the taste of ruin
Flowing from my eyes

Turn back time
Soaked in bubbles
Of our reckless lives

Poet or sinner?
Don't know what I am

You knew me when I fought demons
In your tangled hair
You knew me when I marked you
With my stain of despair

You were just a child
Nothing's ever changed
I see the child in you
Like some eternal flame

All I know
I'll love you in shadows
Till the sun disappears

All I know
I'll love you in shadows
Till His Light reappears

Poet or sinner?
Don't know what I am
Form: Ballad


The Mentor

In dreams I appear and take her
Down a path she dares not wander
In a town beset by plunder
I shake her blood and bone

In dreams she asks my guidance
How to live in holy silence
Beyond the anger of her father
Enrich her mind and soul

Hold me inside all the night
Your leader's your baby
Hold me inside all the night
Your teacher loves you crazy

In dreams she feels me beside her
As I stoke her female fire
In a world that feels so lonely
I fill her need and hope

In dreams I appear and take her
On wings of heaven's power
Beyond tears that stain her pillow
She takes my love and poem.

Hold me inside all the night
Your leader's your baby
Hold me inside all the night
Your teacher loves you crazy

Hold me
Form: Ballad

If I Could Divide the Smell of Flowers

If I could divide the smell of flowers
I'd send some to the falsely charged
Locked in prison cells
Send some to the lonely seniors
Trapped in apartment hells

Send some to the weary miners
Sweating beneath the ground
Send some to the invisible people
Hauling our garbage round

Some answers in life are so easy
Like zero plus zero is none
But how do we divide the smell of flowers
So their fragrance is shared by everyone?

If I could divide the smell of flowers
I'd pass some to the frightened animals
Caged against their wills
Pass some to the dying birds
Choking on oil spills

Pass some to the angry kids
Sniffing up airplane glue
Pass some to the crying widow
Missing the Love she knew

Some answers in life are so easy
Like zero plus zero is none
But how do we divide the smell of flowers
So their fragrance is shared by everyone?

If I could divide the smell of flowers
Then you'd always have your share
If I could divide the smell of flowers
There'd be sweetness around you

Everywhere...
Form: Ballad

Father, You Believed

Father, you believed
Never let me bleed
Helped me in my grief
Helped me in my need

Never let me down
Wish you were around
Walking through this town
You're nowhere to be found

Dad, I love you so

Father you believed
Never let me bleed
Always took my side
Always saved my life

Walking through this town
You're nowhere to be found

Dad I love you so

All your life
You gave more than you got
All your life
You tried to give me what
You never had
When you were growing up
All your life
I never showed you enough

Love

God keep him warm
When the winds blow

Dad I love you so

Dad
Form: Ballad

Premium Member Re Leonard Cohen

he sang poetry
sonorous enchanting tone
metaphorical
Form: Senryu

Prison Cohen Started To Head

Prison Cohen Started To Head

Prison is where Cohen started to head,
Which is something that he does dread;
His teeth brushing;
Commode slushing;
Eating meals and spending nights in bed.

Jim Horn
Form: Limerick

Cohen Sang Song

Cohen Sang Song

Cohen sang song which was a carol;
Now they have Trump over a barrel;
He started new cult,
Called sexual assault;
Not only that presidency is imperil.

Jim Ho Ho Horn
Form: Limerick

Cohen and World of Hurt

Cohen and World of Hurt

More MSNBC News.

What Cohen has is wobbly  world of hurt,
And appears to be having a growth spurt,
Too much strain;
He  went insane;
Also has looked like he is loosing his shirt.

Jim Horn

Yep. You guessed it. Over ten again.
Form: Limerick

Premium Member Cohen Family Simcha

O, I love to attend a Cohen family simcha**
      That is where I really love to be-e-e!

    For when you're at a Cohen family simcha,
      You are always treated roy-al-ly!


**A simcha is Hebrew or Yiddish for a happy event, such as a wedding. 

                  The ditty above is to be sung to the tune of
                    "The Oscar Mayer Wiener Whistle Song"
Form: Lyric

Premium Member Quoting Cohen

Not so swoon Lenny

                                      You're driving me crazy

Leonard Cohen

Darkly touching at the soul for a pulse
Painting sordid affairs with shy lovers
Simple strung elegance meant to engulf
Voyeurs drawn into satiny covers

Deep soft chanting, contrasted by crying
Expertly picking out exalted chords
Selections of angels underlying
Electronic organs ring for the Lord

Examining forms from bleaker futures
Through crystallized visions of long ago
Scriptures of flesh sewn with golden suture
Observing non-secular rites of woe

Endless devotions defining your man
Dissolved by prayers of humble Jikan
Form: Sonnet

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