Leonard Cohen — To a Teacher

Hurt once and for all into silence A long pain ending without a song to prove it Who could stand beside you so close to Eden When you glinted in every eye the held-high razor Shivering every ram and son? Now, silent looney-bin Where the shadows live in the rafters like day-weary bats Until the turning mind, a radar signal Lures them to exaggerate mountain-size on the white stone wall Your tiny limp How can I leave you in such a house? Are there no more saints and wizards To praise their ways with pupils No more evil to stun with the slap of a wet red tongue? Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror And rest because he had finally come? Let me cry help beside you, teacher I have entered under this dark roof As fearlessly as an honoured son enters his father's house