can't believe it's taken me this long to post Cohen, an writer who makes me hold my breath. enjoy. moi.

Summer-Haiku from "The Spice-Box of Earth"

Silence

and a deeper silence

when the crickets

hesitate

I Long to Hold Some Lady from The Spice Box of Earth

I long to hold some lady

For my love is far away,

And will not come tomorrow

And was not here today.

There is no flesh so perfect

As on my lady's bone,

And yet it seems so distant

When I am all alone:

As though she were a masterpiece

In some castled town,

That pilgrims come to visit

And priests to copy down.

Alas, I cannot travel

To a love I have so deep

Or sleep too close beside

A love I want to keep.

But I long to hold some lady,

For flesh is warm and sweet.

Cold skeletons go marching

Each night beside my feet.

Poem

(my favourite)

from "Let Us Compare Mythologies"

I heard of a man

who says words so beautifully

that if he only speaks their name

women give themselves to him.

If I am dumb beside your body

while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips.

it is because I hear a man climb stairs and clear his throat outside the door.