A Thousand Kisses Deep

Poem by Leonard Cohen 

which I cannot listen to enough times this evening.

Kissed by the rain.

Don't matter if the road is long 

Don't matter if it's steep
Don't matter if the moon is gone and the darkness is complete
Don't matter if we lose our way it's written that we'll meet
At least that's what I heard you say
A thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened like a Lilly to the heat 

You see I'm just another snowman standing in the rain and sleet
Who loved you with his frozen love
His second hand physique
With all he is and all he was
A thousand kisses deep

I know you had to lie to me
I know you had to cheat
You learned it on your father's knee
And at your mother's feet
But did you have to fight your way across the burning street
When all our vital interests lay
A thousand kisses deep

I'm turning tricks
I'm getting fixed
I'm back on boogie street
I'd like to quit the business but I'm in it so to speak

The thought of you is peaceful
And the file on you complete
Except what I forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep

Don't matter if you're rich and strong
Don't matter if you're weak
Don't matter if you write a song the nightingales repeat
Don't matter if it's nine to five or timeless and unique
You'd ditch your life to stay alive
A thousand kisses deep

The ponies run the girls are young
The odds are there to beat
You win a while and then it's done your little winning streak
And summoned now to deal with your invincible defeat
You live your life as if it's real
A thousand kisses deep

I hear their voices in the wine
Who sometimes did we seek
The band is playing Auld Lang Syne but the heart will not retreat
There's no forsaking what you love
No existential leap
As witnessed here in time and blood
A thousand kisses deep



He reads it here. Entrancing.