[Dedicated to A. M. Klein (1909-1972)]
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Hurt once and for all into silence.
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A long pain ending without a song to prove it.
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Who could stand beside you so close to Eden,
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When you glinted in every eye the held-high
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razor, shivering every ram and son?
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And now the silent loony bin, where
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The shadows live in the rafters like
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Day-weary bats,
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Until the turning mind, a radar signal,
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lures them to exaggerate
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Mountain-size on the white stone wall
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Your tiny limp.
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How can I leave you in such a house?
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Are there no more saints and wizards
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to praise their ways with pupils,
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No more evil to stun with the slap
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of a wet red tongue?
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Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror
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and rest because he had finally come?
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Let me cry Help beside you, Teacher.
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I have entered under this dark roof
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As fearlessly as an honoured son
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Enters his father's house.
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To A Teacher
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Leonard Cohen |