Leonard Cohen Live – A Thousand Kisses Deep (“A light that doesn’t need to live and Doesn’t need to die”)

The poem is about accepting things we can’t change, and accepting a path we didn’t exactly envision for ourselves. Believe there is a quiet courage in accepting the path that is laid ahead of you, as you gather up your heart and go a thousand kisses deep.. 

[Thanks so much Monsieur Leonard Cohen!]

A Thousand Kisses Deep (poem) Lyrics

Leonard Cohen

You came to me this morning
And you handled me like meat.
You´d have to be a man to know
How good that feels, how sweet.
My mirror twin, my next of kin,
I´d know you in my sleep.
And who but you would take me in
A thousand kisses deep?

I loved you when you opened
Like a lily 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.
To pause all hot and high behind
the veils of sheer deceit
Our perfect porn aristocrat
So elegant and cheap
I’m old, but I’m still into that
A thousand kisses deep

I’m good at love, I’m good at hate
It’s in between I freeze
I’d work it out but it’s too late
It’s been too late for years
But you look good, you really do
They love you on the street
If you were here I’d kneel for you
A thousand kisses deep

The Autumn moved across your skin
Got something in my eye
A light that doesn’t need to live and 
Doesn’t need to die
A riddle in the book of love
obscure and obsolete
To witness tear and time and blood
A thousand kisses deep

And I’m still working with the wine
Still dancing cheek to cheek
The band is playing Auld Lang Syne
But the heart will not retreat
I ran with Diz I sang with Ray –
I did not have their sweep –
But once or twice, they let me play
A thousand kisses deep

I loved you when you opened
Like a lily 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

But you don’t need to hear me now
And every word I speak
It counts against me anyhow
A thousand kisses deep

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