“I Have Not Lingered in European Monasteries”, Leonard Cohen
from The Spice-Box of Earth (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1961)
[ID: I Have Not LIngered in European Monasteries.
I have not lingered in European monasteries. and discovered among the tall grasses tombs of knights who fell as beautifully as their ballads tell; I have not parted the grasses or purposefully left them thatched.
I have not released my mind to wander and wait in those great distances between the snowy mountains and the fishermen, like a moon, or a shell beneath the moving water.
I have not held my breath so that I might hear the breathing of G-d, or tamed my heartbeat with an exercise, or starved for visions. Although I have watched him often I have not become the heron, leaving my body on the shore, and I have not become the luminous trout, leaving my body in the air.
I have not worshipped wounds and relics, or combs of iron, or bodies wrapped and burnt in scrolls.
I have not been unhappy for ten thousand years. During the day I laugh and during the night I sleep. My favourite cooks prepare my meals, my body cleans and repairs itself, and all my work goes well. /end ID]
