When Leonard Cohen is Dead
for a.b
When Leonard Cohen dies there will be a peasant uprising. When Leonard Cohen is dead you will look at his body and decide that he looks about 83% like your grandfather. You will begin to speak only in the future tense because the past will finally become irrelevant. History will be gone. You will begin to speak in very long sentences, you will use lots of Ws, and the urge to punctuate will leave forever when Leonard Cohen dies.
What will you do with yourself when Leonard Cohen dies? Will you write books about war on scrolls of rice paper? Will you even remember how to use a pen after Leonard Cohen is dead? We will all laugh at poets again after Leonard Cohen dies. Will you try to perfect something after Leonard Cohen is dead? You may start something and then try and perfect it and fine tune it and nourish its spirit but when it is finished you will lie on the floor and look at it and say, there is no point to this thing now that Leonard Cohen is dead. You will look at it upside down and it will still look the same.
We will make you a Byzantine Emperor when Leonard Cohen dies. After he is dead we will bring back Byzantium; it will be the only way that any of us can get any rest. Byzantium will be an empire of sleep when Leonard Cohen is dead. When Leonard Cohen is dead there will be no reason to talk in elevators. I will run out of everything when Leonard Cohen is dead.
When Leonard Cohen dies there will be nobody left in the world that has ever seen a dove, or a firefly. There will no longer be anyone alive who could say that they had slept with Janis Joplin. I will not be able to stop asking you questions when Leonard Cohen is dead; not because I am sad but because sadness will suddenly become something that we can buy in a store along with a newspaper. We will sell our clothes for beer money when Leonard Cohen is dead.
I would like to tell you that when Leonard Cohen dies we will see no less than four biblical plagues in a year but you would not believe me if I told you that. What will I tell you when Leonard Cohen is dead? How will I tell you that Leonard Cohen is dead? Maybe we will go to the Vatican Library and rip the pages from books when Leonard Cohen dies. Maybe we will hide the books in places that the books shouldn’t be when Leonard Cohen is dead. We will both become collagists when Leonard Cohen dies. It will be 1am when Leonard Cohen dies. You will have a sudden affinity for Brian Wilson when Leonard Cohen is dead. We will wash your feet in Jerusalem when Leonard Cohen dies.
It is no secret that when Leonard Cohen dies there will be three days of mourning in Italy. They will change the colour of the river for him. They will rename Aragon when Leonard Cohen is dead. It will be so difficult when Leonard Cohen dies. I will stop making lists when Leonard Cohen is dead.
What will you do with yourself when Leonard Cohen dies? Will you write books about war on scrolls of rice paper? Will you even remember how to use a pen after Leonard Cohen is dead? We will all laugh at poets again after Leonard Cohen dies. Will you try to perfect something after Leonard Cohen is dead? You may start something and then try and perfect it and fine tune it and nourish its spirit but when it is finished you will lie on the floor and look at it and say, there is no point to this thing now that Leonard Cohen is dead. You will look at it upside down and it will still look the same.
We will make you a Byzantine Emperor when Leonard Cohen dies. After he is dead we will bring back Byzantium; it will be the only way that any of us can get any rest. Byzantium will be an empire of sleep when Leonard Cohen is dead. When Leonard Cohen is dead there will be no reason to talk in elevators. I will run out of everything when Leonard Cohen is dead.
When Leonard Cohen dies there will be nobody left in the world that has ever seen a dove, or a firefly. There will no longer be anyone alive who could say that they had slept with Janis Joplin. I will not be able to stop asking you questions when Leonard Cohen is dead; not because I am sad but because sadness will suddenly become something that we can buy in a store along with a newspaper. We will sell our clothes for beer money when Leonard Cohen is dead.
I would like to tell you that when Leonard Cohen dies we will see no less than four biblical plagues in a year but you would not believe me if I told you that. What will I tell you when Leonard Cohen is dead? How will I tell you that Leonard Cohen is dead? Maybe we will go to the Vatican Library and rip the pages from books when Leonard Cohen dies. Maybe we will hide the books in places that the books shouldn’t be when Leonard Cohen is dead. We will both become collagists when Leonard Cohen dies. It will be 1am when Leonard Cohen dies. You will have a sudden affinity for Brian Wilson when Leonard Cohen is dead. We will wash your feet in Jerusalem when Leonard Cohen dies.
It is no secret that when Leonard Cohen dies there will be three days of mourning in Italy. They will change the colour of the river for him. They will rename Aragon when Leonard Cohen is dead. It will be so difficult when Leonard Cohen dies. I will stop making lists when Leonard Cohen is dead.
