The birds they sang at the break of day
Start
again I heard them say
Don't
dwell on what has passed away
or
what is yet to be.
Ah
the wars they will be fought again
The
holy dove She will be caught again
bought
and sold and bought again
the
dove is never free.
Ring
the bells that still can ring
Forget
your perfect offering
There
is a crack in everything
That's
how the light gets in.
We
asked for signs the signs were sent:
the
birth betrayed the marriage spent
Yeah
the widowhood of every government --
signs
for all to see.
I
can't run no more with that lawless crowd
while
the killers in high places say their prayers out loud.
But
they've summoned, they've summoned up a thundercloud
and
they're going to hear from me.
Ring
the bells that still can ring…
You
can add up the parts but you won't have the sum
You
can strike up the march, there is no drum
Every
heart, every heart to love will come
but
like a refugee.
Ring
the bells that still can ring
Forget
your perfect offering
There
is a crack, a crack in everything
That's
how the light gets in.
Ring
the bells that still can ring
Forget
your perfect offering
There
is a crack, a crack in everything
That's
how the light gets in.
That's
how the light gets in.
That's
how the light gets in.
by
Leonard Cohen
NOTE: This is a song, obviously, and if you look up this song in the form of lyrics, it will probably be laid out differently. I have chosen to lay it out as above to serve the rhyming scheme and bring the poetic quality out from the song, once stripped of its music.
Let us not forget that Leonard Cohen started his creative journey as a poet and a novelist and published several critically well-received volumes of poetry before he ever set foot in a recording studio.
In these Trump-afflicted times, I, for one, really miss Cohen's celebration of the human spirit and his humility and compassion, both as a man and an artist.
RIP Leonard Norman Cohen September 21, 1934-November 7, 2016
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