Leonard Cohen, Book of Longing

"I know she is coming I know she will look And that is the longing And this is the book."

"The Remote I often think about youwhen I’m lying alone inmy room with my mouthopen and the remotelost somewhere in the bed."

"You should gofrom place to placerecovering the poemsthat have been written for youto which you can affix your signature. Don't discuss these matterswith anyone. Retrieve. Retrieve. When the basket is fullsomeone will appearto whom you can present it."

"My animal howls My angel's upset But I'm not allowed A trace of regret"

"DEAR DI­ARYYou are greater than the Bible And the Con­fer­ence of the Birds And the Up­an­ishads All put to­geth­er You are more se­vere Than the Scrip­tures And Ham­mura­bi’s Code More dan­ger­ous than Luther’s pa­per Nailed to the Cathe­dral door You are sweet­er Than the Song of Songs Might­ier by far Than the Epic of Gil­gamesh And braver Than the Sagas of Ice­land I bow my head in grat­itude To the ones who give their lives To keep the se­cret The dai­ly se­cret Un­der lock and key Dear Di­ary I mean no dis­re­spect But you are more sub­lime Than any Sa­cred Text Some­times just a list Of my events Is holi­er than the Bill of Rights And more in­tense"

"first of all nothing will happen and a little laternothing will happen again"

"... i didn't fall in love of courseit's never up to youbut she was walking back and forthand i was passing through"