Film Photography > Poetry

The Orchestra pit of the soul
(For Leonard Cohen)


Loss is a gift to us- we learn to cherish and dance- to cry and take bigger chances.
The orchestra pit of the soul expands through the darkness
The dead all pick up their instruments and perform the dirge
for the poet
Strings break
They play on
For
The one who sewed the patch to the hole of the the world with a hallelujah
Song.
They all cover the tune
Balloons uprising with the trumpeting angels in the streets of Montreal.
Guiding with tarnished trumpets
Finger prints on the exterior
While every mark of poetry
Is within the inferior.
Leonard chose music over poetry
As the audience commanded the encores
To repeat over and over
And for the three part harmony singers to
Make it complete.
We gather today to celebrate a long life
Of Eluded death
Journeys beyond the flesh
A Mesh of nations
Not dreading or focussing on dread
Because it is all
Transition points
To deeper views
Sunsets and sorrow remembered
Holding hands and
Letting go of hardened hands.
Servitude
To the solace of a world lighting candles
Crying while taking the plunge into a healing bath
Lion legs weakened
Resting and grieving
Taking dusty books off shelves
That were once read to bring
A lover to the bed
The honest notion
That poetry is the song
That helped you belong.
Have you been sanctified
Cleansed
Or immortalized
While the ashes reflect light of the flame on the water.
Was it the dame or the damned
The broken down drunk
The sunken eyes of the old woman eating soup
The identity thief
Leaving clues for gender
Identity.
Was it Marianne

That you visited bedside
To say goodbye
Properly.
Was it the property of the world expanding beyond the word?
How can you mourn a poet
A sage
A song
A longing
A dance
A blue raincoat
In a downpour or tears.
I am a better man
Because of one poem written
By you
In high school
No longer a fool
In the court of
Mortals.
I hope this tribute
The seraphs and demons
Won't refuse.


Francis A Willey
For Leonard Cohen
November 11 2016

The Orchestra pit of the soul
(For Leonard Cohen)
Poetry
2016