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Avalanche

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(Leonard Cohen)







I stepped into an avalanche

It covered up my soul

When I am not this hunchback that you see

I sleep beneath the golden hill

You who wish to conquer pain

You must learn to serve me well





You strike my side by accident

As you go down to your goal

This cripple here that you clothe and feed

Is neither starved nor cold

He does not ask for your company

Not at the centre, the centre of the world





I who am on a pedestal

You did not raise me there

Your laws do not compel me now

To kneel grotesque and bare

For I myself am the pedestal

For this ugly hump at which you stare





You who wish to conquer pain

You must learn what makes me kind

The crumbs of love that you offer me

Are the crumbs I've left behind

Your pain is no credential here

It's just a shadow of my wound





I have begun to ask for you

I who have no greed

I have begun to long for you

I who have no need

You say you've gone away from me

But I can feel you when you breathe





Do not dress in those rags for me

I know you are not poor

And do not love me quite so fiercely now

When you know that you are not sure

It is your turn, my beloved one

It is your flesh that I wear