Now That You Are Here

***

God is alive, magic is afoot.
God is alive, magic is afoot.
God is alive, magic is afoot.
God is afoot, magic is alive.
Alive is afoot, magic never died!

God never sickened.
Many poor men lied.
Many sick men lied.
Magic never weakened.
Magic never hid.
Magic always ruled. 

from "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot" by Leonard Cohen

***

I love to speak with Leonard
he's a sportsman, he's a shepherd
he's a lazy bastard
living in a suit.

from "Going Home" by Leonard Cohen

***

mister leonard cohen

welcome to istanbul

                   to constantinople

                   to byzantium

                   to the bridges i live under

                   to the seas i breathe

                   to the domes i top

now that you sleep under one of the roofs

i probably have passed by or over or under at least once

when searching for home

  and a line about home

  but most of all for a throat and a breath

perhaps i can show you around.

you’ve been doing the showing around

for far too long.

now that you stepped on both sides

of the foundation

and the doom of this city

you should

pray in our synagogues

pray on our bridge

pray while the call to prayer and the dusk and the hills

pray with a fishing pole in arnavutköy

pray as you start a new song about

pray beside the skeletons of our sultans and our caesars

pray with me

teach me to pray

teach me poetry

teach me song

in return

i will give you another seventy seven years and three hundred and sixty three days

in return, cavafy will come, though i’m afraid he’ll be hitting on you terribly

rumi will come, whoever he is, he will come, come, come again,

byron will come, dragging along a new mistress, dragging his foot,

hank williams will come and you know what, his cough is gone,

mister leonard cohen,

now that you are here,

if he manages finally to find his grave

Federico Lorca will come

and we’ll go grab bucharest and toulon and barcelona and boston and montreal for you

bring them all here

right in front of your guitar

and your bow

we have enough room in this city
to make you a lazy bastard for real.

mister leonard cohen,

now that you are finally somewhere here

don’t go.

September 17-30, 2012