“Leonard Cohen is Ready To Die (and so was, so was I)”
Leonard Cohen is Ready To Die (and so was I, so was I)
Leonard Cohen is ready to die
Without having read the headlines
I saw it said, and so was I, so was I.
Condo living, milestones surfing
But none of it for me, fitting.
Give me fruit stands at Mont Royal station
— at eleven.
Tea with Chris at midnight on the strip
— he buys.
And that smoke under the Montreal sky
And my smile that stretches mile-wide
At the joy of Parc Lafontaine passers by
At memories of Avenue Laurier (as in Paris) with Goulven.
Leonard Cohen is ready to die
And so was I, so was I.
But for a short life lived on high
Thanks to London muses of whom I’d write.
The feeling like I’ve done it all
What else was there to boring Ottawa?
If our Papa Poet be He ready to pass on
This Poetess best get She to Montreal!
And fill in the City with my vibes and ALL!
A flat at Rachel or Duluth at L’Esplanade?
Give me merely a fig from the metro stop in my hand.
The energy of subway travellers and bises bises.
If Montreal be one Poet shorter in these years
Praise be to Cohen, and rid me of my fears:
So I can leave here and live a reality
That is worth recounting and one for which facing Death
I would be smiling, inviting and ready
Rather than pleading…
Sylvie Hill 2016