Books by Leonard Cohen POETRY l.et Us Compare ,\Iythologies ( l!J'Jli) Tht' Sp!ct:-Box of Earth ( l!Jii 1) Flower.< for Hitln (19G1) Paw.1ites of 1/cm>cr/ (l!JGG) F I CT I Of\ The Favorite Game (1!)li3) Iletllttiful Lose1.1 ( 1 �)fiG) L EONARD CO H EN S E L ECT ED PO E M S 1956 1968 The Vil<ing Press New Yori< Copyright © 1964, 1966, •g68 by Leonard Cohen Copyright in all countries of 1he International Copyright Union All rights reserved First published in 1968 in a hardbound edition and a Viking Compass edition by The Viking Press, Inc., 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022 Library of Congress catalog card number: 68-22317 PRINTED IN U .S. A . Some of these poems were previously published by The Viking Press, Inc., in a volume entitled The Spice-Box of Earth. "This Is for You" first appeared in Mademoiselle. Other poems first appeared in Queen's Quarterly, Prism, Saturday Review, Pan-ic, The McGill Chapbook, and Tamarack Review. Most of the poems have appeared in volumes published in Canada by Mc Clelland &: Stewart Limited. Second printing July 1 g68 Contents I. Let Us Compare Mythologies For Wilf and His House :; Prayer for Messiah 4 The Song of the Hellenist 5 The Sparrows 7 City Christ 8 Song of Patience 9 When This American Woman ro Song II These Heroics I 2 Lovers I) The Warrior Boats r4 Letter I6 Pagans I8 Song 20 Prayer for Sunset 2r Ballad 23 Saint Catherine Street 24 Ballad 26 Summer Night 28 The Flier 29 Poem :;o The Fly :;o Warning )I Story )2 Beside the Shepherd 33 I v II. The Spice-Box of Earth A Kite Is a Victim 37 The Flowers That I Left in the Ground 38 Gift 39 There Are Some Men 40 You All in White 4r I Wonder How Many People in This City 42 Go by Brooks 4 3 To a Teacher 44 I Have Not Lingered in European Monasteries 45 It Swings, .Jocko 46 Credo 48 You Have the Lovers 50 Owning Everything 52 The Priest Says Goodbye 54 The Cuckold's Song 56 Dead Song 57 My Lady Can Sleep 58 Travel 59 I Have Two Bars of Soap 6o Celebration 6r Beneath My Hands 62 As the Mist Leaves No Scar 63 I Long to Hold Some Lady 64 Now of Sleeping 65 Song 67 Song 68 For Anne 68 Last Dance at the Four Penny 69 Summer Haiku 70 Out of the Land of Heaven 7I vi Prayer of My Wild Grandfather 72 Isaiah 73 The Genius 76 Lines from My Grandfather's Journal 78 III. Flowers for Hitler What I'm Doing Here 87 The Hearth 88 The Drawer's Condition on November 28, 196 1 8g The Suit go Indictment of the Blue Hole gi I Wanted to Be a Doctor 92 On Hearing a Name Long Unspoken 93 Style 95 Goebbels Abandons His Novel and Joins the Party 97 Hitler the Brain-Mole g8 It Uses Us! 99 My Teacher Is Dying Ioo For My Old Layton ro2 Finally I Called ro3 The Only Tourist in Havana Turns His Thoughts Homeward ro4 Millennium ro5 Alexander Trocchi, Public Junkie, Priez pour Nous Io8 Three Good Nights I I I On the Sickness of My Love I I 3 For Marianne II4 The Failure of a Secular Life II5 My Mentors II6 vii Heirloom I I7 The Project rr8 Hydra 1 963 I20 All There Is to Know about Adolph Eichmann I22 The New Leader I2J For E.J.P. I24 A Migrating Dialogue I25 The Bus I28 The Rest Is Dross I29 How the Winter Gets In I 30 Propaganda I 3 I Opium and Hitler IJ2 For Anyone Dressed in Marble IJ4 Folk IJ4 I Had It for a Moment IJ5 Independence IJ7 The House I 38 The Lists IJ9 Order I40 Destiny I42 Queen Victoria and Me I4J The New Step: A Ballet-Drama in One Act I45 Winter Bulletin I64 Why Did You Give My Name to the Police? I65 The Music Crept by Us I67 Disguises I68 Lot I7I One of the Nights I Didn't Kill Myself r72 Bullets I7J The Big World I74 Front Lawn I75 viii Kerensky 176 Another Night with Telescope 178 IV. Parasites of Heaven The Nightmares Do Not Suddenly 181 A Cross Didn't Fall on Me 182 So You're the Kind of Vegetarian 183 Nothing Has Been Broken 184 Here We Are at the Window 185 Clean as the Grass from Which 186 When I Paid the Sun to Run 187 I See You on a Greek Mattress 188 Suzanne Wears a Leather Coat 189 One Night I Burned the House I Loved 190 Two Went to Sleep 191 In the Bible Generations Pass . . . 192 Found Once Again Shamelessly Ignoring the Swans . . . 193 When I Hear You Sing 194 He Was Lame 195 I Am Too Loud When You Are Gone 195 Somewhere in My Trophy Room . . . 196 You Know Where I Have Been 197 I Met a Woman Long Ago 198 I've Seen Some Lonely History 200 Snow Is Falling 201 Created Fires I Cannot Love 202 Claim Me, Blood, If You Have a Story 203 He Was Beautiful When He Sat Alone 204 I Am a Priest of God 207 In Almond Trees Lemon Trees 208 ix Suzanne Takes You Down 209 Give Me Back My Fingerprints 21 r Foreign God, Reigning in Earthly Glory 213 I Believe You Heard Your Master Sing 214 This Morning I Was Dressed by the Wind 2I6 I Stepped into an Avalanche 217 V. New Poems This Is for You 221 You Do Not Have to Love Me 223 It's Just a City, Darling 224 Edmonton, Alberta, December 1966, 4 a.m. 225 The Broom Is an Army of Straw 226 I Met You 227 Calm, Alone, the Cedar Guitar 228 You Live Like a God 229 Aren't You Tired 230 She Sings So Nice 2JI The Reason I Write 231 When I Meet You in the Small Streets 232 It Has Been Some Time 233 A Person
