Leonard Cohen (1934-2016)

A despedida de um grande artista

Leonard Cohen no Festival Internacional de Benicàsim (Valência, Espanha), 20 de Julho de 2008. Fotografia de Diego Tuson/AFP.

        Humilde, de uma generosidade de espírito imensa, Leonard Cohen deixou-nos. E a sua partida deixou-nos uma grande saudade. Felizmente, uma saudade que podemos enganar ouvindo a sua música, a sua poesia. Melhor, graças à tecnologia podemos ouvir a sua voz quente, muito grave, quase mística.

     Muito foi dito sobre este grande artista. Portanto, não vou alongar-me. Quero apenas prestar-lhe a minha homenagem, o meu profundo agradecimento por ter sido uma inspiração na minha vida.

     Num artigo publicado neste blogue, no ano de 2013, por altura das Grandes Festas (Yamim Noraim), apresentei a versão de Leonard Cohen do poema litúrgico Unetaneh Tokef – Who by Fire. Em Who by Fire, composto em 1973 em resposta à Guerra do Yom Kippur, Cohen debate-se com a nossa mortalidade e com o conceito de Deus, a quem dirige, num misto de devoção e de fúria, estas palavras: «And who, shall I say is calling?».

     No tema The Captain, de 1984, Cohen atreve-se a tocar num assunto tabu, quando diz: «Complain, complain, that’s all you’ve done ever since we lost. If it’s not the Crucifixion, then it’s the Holocaust. »

“The Captain”

Now the Captain called me to his bed

He fumbled for my hand

"Take these silver bars," he said

"I'm giving you command."

"Command of what, there's no one here

There's only you and me --

All the rest are dead or in retreat

Or with the enemy."

"Complain, complain, that's all you've done

Ever since we lost

If it's not the Crucifixion

Then it's the Holocaust."

"May Christ have mercy on your soul

For making such a joke

Amid these hearts that burn like coal

And the flesh that rose like smoke."

"I know that you have suffered, lad,

But suffer this awhile:

Whatever makes a soldier sad

Will make a killer smile."

"I'm leaving, Captain, I must go

There's blood upon your hand

But tell me, Captain, if you know

Of a decent place to stand."

"There is no decent place to stand

In a massacre;

But if a woman take your hand

Go and stand with her."

"I left a wife in Tennessee

And a baby in Saigon --

I risked my life, but not to hear

Some country-western song."

"Ah but if you cannot raise your love

To a very high degree,

Then you're just the man I've been thinking of --

So come and stand with me."

"Your standing days are done," I cried,

"You'll rally me no more.

I don't even know what side

We fought on, or what for."

"I'm on the side that's always lost

Against the side of Heaven

I'm on the side of Snake-eyes tossed

Against the side of Seven.

And I've read the Bill of Human Rights

And some of it was true

But there wasn't any burden left

So I'm laying it on you."

Now the Captain he was dying

But the Captain wasn't hurt

The silver bars were in my hand

I pinned them to my shirt.

     Em Outubro de 2016, Leonard Cohen editou o seu último álbum. Intitulado You Want It Darker, afinal uma despedida, é uma longa reflexão sobre a sua própria mortalidade. O álbum, visto como um retorno de Cohen às suas raízes judaicas, apresenta o Cantor Gideon Zelermyer e o Coro da Sinagoga Shaar Hashomayim, da sua cidade natal, Montreal.

     O tema You Want It Darker, que dá o nome ao álbum, inclui passagens da liturgia hebraica, como por exemplo versos do Kaddish - «Magnified and sanctified be Thy holy name»; Cohen, cita também, em hebraico e em inglês, passagens do Livro de Génesis, da história do Sacrifício de Isaac (Gen. 22:1 - E foi depois destas palavras que Deus experimentou a Abraão. E disse-lhe: «Abraão!» E disse: Eis-me aqui.) – «Hineni, 

hineni, I’m ready my Lord» - «Eis-me aqui, estou pronto meu Senhor».

“You Want It Darker”

If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game

If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame

If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame

You want it darker

We kill the flame

Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name

Vilified, crucified, in the human frame

A million candles burning for the help that never came

You want it darker

Hineni, hineni

I’m ready, my lord

There’s a lover in the story

But the story’s still the same

There’s a lullaby for suffering

And a paradox to blame

But it’s written in the scriptures

And it’s not some idle claim

You want it darker

We kill the flame

They’re lining up the prisoners

And the guards are taking aim

I struggled with some demons

They were middle class and tame

I didn’t know I had permission to murder and to maim

You want it darker

Hineni, hineni

I’m ready, my lord

Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name

Vilified, crucified, in the human frame

A million candles burning for the love that never came

You want it darker

We kill the flame

If you are the dealer, let me out of the game

If you are the healer, I’m broken and lame

If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame

You want it darker

Hineni, hineni

Hineni, hineni

I’m ready, my lord

Hineni

Hineni, hineni

Hineni

Shalom, Leonard!

Artigo de Sónia Craveiro

Numa homenagem muito merecida

Obrigada

Fontes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okaqXB6Ns5s

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/leonard_cohen/the_captain.html

http://observador.pt/2016/11/11/10-poemas-10-cancoes-palavra-de-cohen/

http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/leonard-cohen-says-hineni

http://www.timesofisrael.com/leonard-cohen-donald-trump-and-their-songs-of-love-and-hate/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=c73ca6b3da-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_11&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-c73ca6b3da-55377193