Love Calls You By Your Name

leonard cohen

you thought that it could never happen
to all the people you became
your body lost in legend • the beast so very tame
but here...right here
between the birthmark and the stain
between the ocean and your open vein
between the snowman and the rain
once again...once again
love calls you by your name

the women in your scrapbook
whom you still praise and blame
you say they chained you to your fingernails
and you climb the halls of fame
but here...right here
between the peanuts and the cage
between the darkness and the stage
between the hour and the age
once again...once again
love calls you by your name

shouldering your loneliness
like a gun that you will not learn to aim
you stumble into this movie house
then you climb • you climb into the frame
Yes and here...right here
between the moonlight and the lane
between the tunnel and the train
between the victim and his stain
once again...once again
love calls you by your name

I leave the lady meditating
on the very love which I do not wish to claim
I journeyed down the hundred steps
but the street is still the very same
and here...right here
between the dancer and his cane
between the sailboat and the drain
between the newsreel and your tiny pain
once again...once again
love calls you by your name

where are you Judy? where are you Ann?
where are the paths your heroes came?
wondering out loud as the bandage pulls away
was I...was I only limping? was I really lame?
oh here...come over here
between the windmill and the grain
between the sundown and the chain
between the traitor and her pain
once again...once again
love calls you by your name