*
My new daughter in law
had asked me to read a poem
at their recent wedding
Of course I thought of Gibran
whose words I love
and then I remembered Leonard Cohen
whose haunting songs
were much loved many eons ago
when Beloved and I were
the age of the newly weds
whose haunting songs
So Long Marianne
and Suzanne takes You Downwere much loved many eons ago
when Beloved and I were
the age of the newly weds
His newer and most beautiful song
Dance me to the end of Love
seemed entirely appropriate
and I was set...
I read the song
as a lead in to
the Wedding Dance
I read the song
as a lead in to
the Wedding Dance
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses have gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the wedding now, and dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, and we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the children that are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic til I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
All paintings by Marc Chagall
*
Dance me through the panic til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses have gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the wedding now, and dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, and we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the children that are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic til I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
All paintings by Marc Chagall
*
A beautiful selection for your son and his bride Delwyn.
ReplyDeleteLeonard Cohen being from Montreal is a treasured icon here. In his younger days he roamed the streets and frequented his favourite coffee houses. People generally left him alone to, for example, walk early in the morning to sit at his favourite zendo.
His songs are like anthems here (in fact he has a song called precisely that). Dance Me to the End of Love is one of my favourites too. I often feel like his music is the soundtrack to my life in Montreal all these years.
Thanks for bringing all these warm thoughts and feelings back.
You are back to posting regularly again. I am enjoying your presence.
What a powerful song that it! It doesn't really need a melody to completely take me in and cast its spell on me. What a wonderful song to sanctify a wedding. You chose with discernment.
ReplyDeleteAnd with Bonnie, I'm pleased to have a Hazy Moon stirred back to life, back into my life. A pleasure, for sure.
Ah - fabulous!
ReplyDeleteLeonard Cohen will be seen (in the future) as one of the great American poets, I believe. What a perfect choice for the wedding.
And I love Chagall. Lovely.
me again - just want to gently and respectfully remind Reya that while Cohen, of course, belongs to the world - I think he would refer to himself as a Canadian poet.
ReplyDeleteI love this song so much--great choice, Delwyn!
ReplyDeleteLeonard is a jewel, isn't he? Nice song, nice choice.
ReplyDeleteHow perfect it all is.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Thank-You for sharing this with us, Delwyn.
ReplyDeleteBest
Tracy :)
Gorgeous! I didn't know this poem. This is so touching.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite poem songs of all time. And what a perfect selections! I love all the illustrations you used. This may be my all-time favorite post from you. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteVery, very nice. I also appreciate the Chagall paintings.
ReplyDeleteA Delwyn Masterpiece...with the help of Leonard Cohen and Marc Chagall! Lovely!
ReplyDeleteI just came back from listening to and watching, on YouTube, the official Cohen video of...Dance Me to the End of Love!
...Wanda
There's that old saying "A pictures worth a thousand words" - But in this case I think it is a case of both Cohens words and Chagalls paintings working together to create a bigger work - A very beautiful post.
ReplyDeletehey delwyn! chagall and cohen side-by-side-by-side. so beautiful. what a gift!!! steven
ReplyDeleteSo moving with the words complimenting the art here in the Blog. And I can imagine just as moving when the Mother of the Groom spoke the song for the Newlyweds before their first dance.
ReplyDeleteHi Bonnie
ReplyDeletewell I didn't know that LC was from your city....he had rather a morose, melancholy voice way back...haunting and beautiful at the same time...
He was the intellectual's moody folk rock star of the 70s...
I am glad you are enjoying my posts and regular appearance. I love to blog when I have the time...each day is full of post opportunities and I often berate myself for being addicted to daily posts when every few days would suffice equally as well but then I think that I will create a major backlog in posts if I hold off, so I might as well publish whilst the pen is hot....
I enjoy our correspondence and shared interests...
happy days
Oh Dan
ReplyDeletethank you - you sweetie...
I enjoy our connection and regular catching up...
Did you know LC as a young man?
Have you heard the Dance to me sung...it is on utube if you want to listen...
Happy days
Hi reya
ReplyDeleteanother LC fan...hurrah...but I will have to deign to my dear friend Bonnie's claim and note that he is Canadian....
I love the frivolity of Chagall's works the life and the spirit he extols through his colours and images...
Happy days
Hello there Jelica...
ReplyDeleteI think I may have first heard it through Mr Cuban...I know it was posted on a blog...my son's friends loved it too...
Happy days
Hi Martin
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you are familiar with Leonard too...in days gone by he was rather maudlin but nevertheless very catchy melodies and lyrics......
I am glad that he is writing in a lighter vein...I think his poetry is a great complement to Chagall...
Happy days
Hi Polly
ReplyDeletehave you heard the song?
Hi Tracy
Ditto
happy days
Oh Meri
ReplyDeletehow encouraging you are in your comments...
This post just 'happened' as mine usually do... I saw the words to the song floating across my desk in a lot of papers I returned from holidays and the same day I happened to open an old file on the office computer thinking to bring it over to my new macbook and Chagall jumped out at me...
I suppose the combination of the two is an act of synchronicity...
Happy days
Hi Rosaria
ReplyDeleteCohen is a poet songwriter. Did you know of him in the late 60s and 70s?
Hi Larry
I'm glad that you are fond of Chagall...don't you think they are so playful and uplifting...and we need more of that energising spirit....
happy days
Hi Wanda
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased that you took it on yourself to access the utube to hear this beautiful song...He has a very different style and I'm glad that you liked it...
thank you for the heartening words...
Happy days my blog friend...
Hi Alden
ReplyDeleteits a bit of a double exposure... great words with great imagery... a double whammy...and what inspiration in my little mind to pair them...who knows where that came from...except I have always loved the Chagall wedding paintings so I guess it was a simple wiring connection for the brain to make...
I love it when a post composes itself like this one...
Happy days my bestest old friend...
Hi Barb
ReplyDeleteI hope that the poem/song had good effect...I think that the young ones appreciated it...some came to tell me so...
I did give the beautiful couple a poignant look at the line 'dance me to the children waiting to be born...'
as they are both early 30s so need to get on with it....
Happy days
thank you Barb...
Hi Steven
ReplyDeletefrom the master of successful marriage between word and imagery I take this as a compliment...
I got a buzz to find that Cohen and Chagall so complemented each other...
Happy days
Yes, Delwyn, I've heard it, but I heard Madeleine Peyroux's excellent cover of it first. Would it be sacrilegious to say I actually like her version better?
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Delwyn
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for introducing this really really lovely poem to us. I didn't know it so I'm very glad now! Love fascinating Marc Chagall's paintings!
Hi Polly
ReplyDeleteI will have to listen to her version now and let you know what I think...
Happy days
Hello Sapphire
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to have given you an introduction to Leonard...he is a great poet song writer singer going way back to the 60s...
happy days
Cohen and Chagall as they never lived apart from one another,so beautiful and delicate combination.Good choice,thank you for yet another jewel to treasure and all-thou I love Steven's stile and compliment to you I must add it was you who introduced me to a most successful relation of your haiku choices and visuals so I'll say you are at the same throne,first price!
ReplyDeleteLove,light and peace for all of you!
Aleksandra
Hi Aleks
ReplyDeleteyou are very kind
thank you
Happy days