For the Loving
the Loathing
and the target
who never stops moving
For all the hurt who fell
chasing their own tail
through a reflection glistening
Four sheets to the wind
and under the full sail
of a fevered imagination
Plying the streets
of dark heat
where children
of the strange meet
An all consuming congregation
of a frantic orchestration
As the angelic
weep for the sheep
led to feed upon the weeds
of manic condemnation
For the bad seeds
with all their good deeds
For those cast aside
set adrift, and forsaken
For the misspent youth
and the seeker of truth
. . . sadly mistaken
All searching for
the unspoken Hallelujah
The loving
and the loathing
A liar was talking
I stopped to listen
A thief came prowling
Life itself being stolen
A bully accusing
who seems to know something
condemning every single
simple little thing
Me about you
… you about me
who knows absolutely nothing
Does love divine cover
a multitude of sin?
Don’t look
for a rolling stone
to give you shelter
Thank God
In Christ
we are forgiven
Yet the bad times
ne’er forgotten
I am the broken Hallelujah
All the loving
and the loathing
of my youthful roaming
taking flight
Second to the left
and straight on till evening
To a place where
the sheer might of delight
makes everything
seem right
The peacocks of my past
now vultures feeding
in a maze of spite
Where the Prince de Phobia
rules by the haze of night
Where the days are ablaze
and way too bright
But just as darkness
flees the light
I heard the Word
and I fought the fight
Now older, wiser
… and hanging on tight
for the Prince of Peace
He is within my sight
No mistaking
… not forsaken
I am the broken Hallelujah
For the loving
and the loathing
For the seeker exploring
who never made it back
For the boundary rider
who went off track
in hot pursuit
of forbidden fruit
The ecstasy and the agony
For the visionary
who only sees black
For the dreamer, forever
caught in a trance
The force of nature
caught without pants
For the lost and excluded
praying for a chance
For those alone
in secret places
with the hard drive ghosts
of a thousand faces
For those too far gone
to maintain the pretence
There is a Lord
over every circumstance
Not some token Hallelujah
For the poet reluctant
silenced in the presence
The Spirit of Holiness
Christ Consciousness
whispering wholeness
for all those who don’t
have their shit together
No matter the weather
over your satellite antenna
Be anxious for no such thing
For in Jesus
we have the real thing
The original and genuine
the most holy and gracious King
From the burning lips
and fractured hearts of men
has there ever been
a Holy Hallelujah?
I’ve not heard it yet
from my air raid shelter
Be the becoming
the overflowing Hallelujah
The Loving
and the loathing
The listening
The growing
The being still and knowing
From earthbound zero
to supernatural hero
Second to the right
and straight on till morning
Beyond all human understanding
more precious than gold
that sacred silence down below
Seizing back the power
from whence it was taken
The figment of fear
forever, to be forgotten
A race in the running
redeeming this final hour
The Mercy Spill
from Calvary’s hill
throughout this earthly maze
… may God be praised
with a broken Hallelujah
I am on a journey
searching this side of eternity
reaching deep within me
seeking foremost and solely
for that Holy … Hallelujah
~ by david redpath © 2017
¤ In Memory of Leonard Cohen
First published on WordPress 9/11/17
Image: ‘The Pietà’ by Michelangelo
PhotoArt: david Redpath © 2017
OMG Your poetry is mind blowing.
LikeLiked by 5 people
A response (with benevolent side effects, hopefully) that makes it
all worthwhile.
Thanks Lorraine.
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You are welcome. I could read your poems through again and again, and get new meanings out of them.
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So definitely yes!
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Thanks for that
Affirmationism, B.
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😄😄😄😄
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Probably one of my favorite.
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Thank you very much, Stella.
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You’re welcome.
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This is an epic. So much wisdom and truth. Bravo. Perhaps the best. (now, it is downhill from here). LOL
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Thank you very much, Drew.
. . . Up, up, and away ☝!
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LOL
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Now this is really something. More than.
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I truly appreciate that.
Thanks for your input,
In Between.
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My pleasure.
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Hallelujah! This is truly overwhelming.
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I’m fully overcome!
Thank you, Punam.
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My pleasure, David.
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Love those colors. If I try to do that, all of the colors change. Yours accentuate what needs to be so. Some people can, others can’t, I guess….
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Thanks for the appreciation.
I was raised Kodachromatic
… to the sounds of Paul Simon.
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Now I’ve gotten the Paul Simon channel playing in my head, while at work! I guess, it’s here where I say: Thanks?
LikeLiked by 3 people
You prefer maybe …
‘The Sounds of Silence’?
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Anything goes as long as the temps go under 20 degrees, as today we are up around 30, and it is starting to resemble Graceland Tennessee in humidity!
I’m going to Graceland…..
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… in Memphis, Egypt?
It gets pretty hot there too.
I have reason to believe
you’ll need a passport, and
much cash, to be recieved
… in Graceland.
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This totally awesome 👏👏 I’am still adrift in your poem !
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Thanks Srikanth.
I’d throw you a line but that
would leave me dangling.
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Ha ha !! You don’t have to throw me a line, I’am already caught in your net .. just drag me to safety !! 🤝
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I was looking for the lifeguard,
but he had gone for a cigarette?
Then I found a life buoy
with ‘RMS Titanic’ painted on it!
Keep on paddling, Srikanth.
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Brilliantly written poem with such a powerful message. It resonates in my heart.
Love these lines:
“For the lost and excluded
praying for a chance
For those alone
in secret places
with the hard drive ghosts
of a thousand faces
For those too far gone
to maintain the pretence
There is a Lord
over every circumstance
Not some token Hallelujah”
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you for opening
your heart Marta, to the
words of a broken author.
So glad this resonated
with you ~ David R.
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You are welcome, David.
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Hallelujah!!! nothing else comes to mind…
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Yes 👍 Geetika,
“God be praised”!
And Hava Nagila,
“Let us rejoice”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
such a happy song/melody…cheered up my spirits…thanks…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everybody Knows
You’ll have A Thousand Kisses Deep
At Closing Time
If It Be Your Will
LikeLiked by 4 people
Now so long, Marianne
… there’ll be hell to pay
when the light’s turned on.
Walt, I should’ve known
you’d be a devotee of the
Lord Byron Of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
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Yep, you should have, lol
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David, you are the master of the explosively visual epic journey of words. Your poems are always a ride, not just a read. And the music, the music is always so alive in your writing!
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Your words always raise me up from a flowering funk.
Thank you very much, Susan.
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This is an amazing tribute to Leonard Cohen. You took me on a journey through my past where it felt like I was seeing myself over and over again, and everyone, and you. Your poems are like roses that, from the first word, get planted in my heart and hook their thorns in deep and those thorns always cause me pain because of all the longing I have for peace, for certainty – for Him. I don’t mind the pain so much. Your roses are beautiful. ♥.
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Flowing Niki,
sorry if my words
get a bit prickly.
Glad to know
you appreciate
‘Pop’s Poet Laureate’.
Some called him
the ‘Godfather of Gloom’
& the ‘High Priest of Pathos’
… but whatever,
losing the Leonard
was a great loss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you David. =) Very true too. Such a loss for us Such a gain for heaven. ♥.
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Thank you, Niki. Your kind
words are very encouraging.
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You’re most welcome David. I didn’t give my brain time to think about them so they came straight from my heart. =) I find that’s usually best. My brain tends to muck things up. ^_^ ♥.
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Let it flow, Niki ☝.
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Great dedication, David.
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Thanks Mark.
Leonard Cohen was truly
the ‘Poet-Shaman’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great interview of him on an old Fresh Air with Terry Gross
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Thanks for that, Mark.
I’ll check it out ✔.
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Just kept thinking of Jeff Buckley or Leonard Cohen because of the title 🙂
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Couldn’t ask for more !?
Thanks Issa.
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A superbly majestic poetic tribute in honour of Leonard Cohen, David.
I love all the great imagery and poetic lines throughout.
I particularly love those lines,
“The peacocks of my past
now vultures feeding
in a maze of spite.”
How very very true in all our lives.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you very much, Christopher.
That line was inspired
by the Spanish proverb;
‘Raise ravens and they’ll pluck out your eyes’.
Carlos Saura used the saying
as the theme for his Post Franco movie masterpiece,
‘Cría cuervos’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stunning post David! Very moving. Beautiful reminders too.
And love the artwork!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you very much, Vanessa.
I’m about to post some Aussie
content. Hope you like.
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So powerful!
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Thank you, Lynn.
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Powerfull tribute in honour of Leonard Cohen, love it ❤
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Thank you Miss Kitty.
That made me purr 💘.
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❤
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What do you think you’ll find under the rainbow, David?
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Is it ever too soon
to be over the moon 🌙?
To take a wild ride
beyond the dark side.
There’s a groom
at the alter waiting
patiently, lovingly,
for his runaway bride.
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It’s never too soon nor too late.
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I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon
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So alive!
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Thanks Ortensia.
Still breathing, thank God.
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After this masterpiece has been covered to death and beyond it is most refreshing to read your punchy rendition.
Took me on a trip, one of those you don’t plan, but that are happening anyway and all you can do is take in the scenery with all the good, the bad, the ugly and the mad.
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Thank you Matthias
… for taking the trip.
Your comment, most prophetic,
has hit the nail on the head
of my next post.
The inspiration for which
is, ‘the Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly’… a great movie.
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Yes, I can see Cohen influence. A very mixed-feelings poem. Almost jarring at places.
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Yes , Leonard Cohen was
born with a golden voice.
His poetic lyrics always
seeking, reaching out, at
times, even holding life’s
‘diamond in the rough’.
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Phew! No words….perfect!
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Thank you, Vivian.
I must admit, I was high
on love … and caffeine.
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Lol! A good combo!
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Just beautiful.
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Thank you, Anna.
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Yes, we are all broken hallelujahs! … And blessed to have God’s Grace in our life!
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Thanks for that ‘Amen’,
Dwight.
Yes, best to be dining
upon loving grace,
than tasting
the grapes of ‘Roth’
( I may have to work
on my spelling?).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha Ha!! I will have to watch my Rothful attitude!!
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Kingsize Rothmans
wear always a favourite
in my days of choking smoke
and various bad habits.
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Interesting. That is a new one for me.
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I am the broken Hallelujah…a perfect phrase to describe how I often feel. Thank you David. That phrase alone has given me something to think about. x
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As Leonard Cohen himself would say,
brokenness is how the light gets in 💛
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Stunning, Leonard inspires from the grave.
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Thanks Ellen 🙏
Yes, Leonard was amongst
the best of the best 😎
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We don’t differ in recognising a great poet with a voice carved from the Carrera mountains.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And who gargle with the ashes
of a Hallelujah broken
The Bard of the Boudoir will not
ever be forgotten
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Halleluja to that.
LikeLiked by 1 person