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Our dear friend Helen Wilson was taken out of the church yesterday in her wicker coffin to the strains of Leonard Cohen singing "You Want it Darker".
What do people think Cohen is on about? What do I make of it?
In 1966, the Boston Globe said of Cohen, "James Joyce is not Dead". In the same year Judy Collins persuaded Cohen to sing on stage at a 'fundraiser' Apparently he sang half a song before walking off. The audience went wild and he was eventually able to return to finish the song with Judy by his side.
Collins said of Cohen,
"People think Leonard is dark, but actually his sense of humour
and his edge on the world is extremely light."
In 1998 Cohen spoke of his work as,
"like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it."
Aware of a certain 'end' in sight, the song is written to the Maker addressing questions of the meaning of life.
The lyrics of the song are:-
If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
'If' implies that I am still trying to work out what you are about. If life is a game of poker (with winners and losers), and I've gone 'bust'. God the indifferent.
If you are the healer, it means i'm broken and lame
So if you are about bringing good things, then you missed me. My body is in a state. God the cruel.
If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame
In a two way relationship, you get the honour- but don't look at me. God the all important.
You want it darker
We kill the flame
The 'if' is removed. God allows 'darkness'. God allows 'devastation'. We as humanity bring this. we are the agents. It started when Cain killed Abel. It continued through Jewish history. The prophets were persecuted. The people of Israel faced constant threats of extermination. Finally the Messiah's flame of life is extinguished. For followers of Jesus, only for three days. Sunday is the day of hope. But we have three days to relate to the sense of loss and desolation when someone dear and significant dies. We sense the ripping, the tearing, the rending. Hope is almost completely extinguished. Repair is possible, It does come, but with scars.
Magnified, sanctified
Be the holy name
Vilified, crucified
In the human frame
A million candles burning
For the help that never came
You want it darker
This is the Messiah. What does Cohen understand of the Messiah? Candles lit across the world. For jews, the menorah, for hindus, the diva, for christians, candles burning on stands in cathedrals and chapels across the globe. But what we ask for does not come. The messiah died, and the people were devastated that he did not do what they believed he would do. he did not free them from the yoke of Roman servitude.
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord
To me this is the small child Samuel, sleeping in the temple, instructed by the Priest Eli to say, "Speak, your servant is listening." 1Samuel 3. It is the innocence of the child that is not plagued by extreme thoughts.
There's a lover in the story
But the story's still the same
There's a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it's written in the scriptures
And it's not some idol claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame
If you were to write the history of the Jews, and the fulfilment of this history as recorded in the New Testament, surely you would tone down on paradox. Why not make it more straightforward? "You want it darker".....There is no getting away from it. Life is not a bed of roses (or perhaps the thorny issue is... it is?)
They're lining up to prisoners
And the guards are taking aim
I struggle with some demons
They were middle class and tame
I didn't know I had permission
To murder and to maim
You want it darker
Is this what life is? A prison camp, controlled and regimented. Eventually we are lined up against a wall and shot. And at the same time, I'm struggling with superficial, privileged world 'mind games'. And now I'm told I could have fought back and not conformed?
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord
Evenso, I am listening.
Magnified, sanctified
Be the holy name
Vilified, crucified
In the human frame
A million candles burning
For the love that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame
If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my Lord
The song cycles back on itself. It contains many element of the orthodox Jewish worship. It hints at an understanding of the meaning a purpose of Jesus the Messiah. It remains open to the Creator (like the child Samuel) through everything- every doubt, suffering, perplexity.
What do you think?
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