The precious ones I overthrew
On lost love, the days of kindness, and the one thing AI can't do
Ohhh you really have to read this poem, by my favorite Leonard Cohen, remembering the loves of his youth - his girlfriend Marianne, her baby son Axel, the Greek bohemian island of Hydra where they lived for a time, and his own young self. The poem is about his love affair with Marianne, and how he left her and her baby to live out his life. Here he is, recalling all that from the great distance of age.
I love this poem for its tenderness, for its raw honesty (about his choice to explore the world instead of staying with Marianne and her baby), for its longing, for its vantage point of loving memory, and for its last, devastating couplet: ‘the precious ones I overthrew/for an education in the world’.
Whenever I wonder whether AI can replace human music, I think of my love for Leonard Cohen: which is to say, I think of soul. I love his music and poetry because it reveals the soul who wrote it; I love his soul because of the music and poetry it made; unless machines develop souls, neither side of this equation applies to them.
Here’s LC:
Days of Kindness
Greece is a good place
to look at the moon, isn't it
You can read by moonlight
You can read on the terrace
You can see a face
as you saw it when you were young
There was good light then
oil lamps and candles
and those little flames
that floated on a cork in olive oil
What I loved in my old life
I haven't forgotten
It lives in my spine
Marianne and the child
The days of kindness
It rises in my spine
and it manifests in tears
I pray that loving memory
exists for them too
the precious ones I overthrew
for an education in the world
(Hydra, 1985)
I hope you loved this one, too.
What did you think of the poem?
And of Leonard’s raw honesty, and personal choices?
And do you think that AI can and will replace human art, music, and poetry?
I would love to hear from you, and so would your fellow members of The Quiet Life.
And you can share this Kindred Letter with a friend, here:
My husband abandoned me (30 at the time) and our two children (7 & 9). He left and never stayed in touch with the children. The other side of this is the journey of a young mother who stays to pick up the pieces, love through a child's profound loss, and find a path forward as a family.
The pain a mother carries for her children is much greater than her own pain. Reflection is helpful at any point. I have had my own through the years. I would hope that the compassion I need after learning and reflecting later in life (now 58), I would be able to extend to someone else who also learned throughout life.
That does not mean I would welcome him with open arms if he chose to connect with his son and daughter later in life. I don't understand (nor do I want to) walking away from souls (especially children) that God entrusts us to love and care for. Forgiveness is a gift I gave myself. However, I recognize I still carry the pain that I walked my young children through in the years following the event. A woman's heart runs deep.
This was a hard read. It felt as though it romanticized his journey and reflection. It possibly misses the objectivity of a two-sided story. I see myself in the image of that young mother holding her beloved child not knowing the tidal wave headed her way.
With regards to AI, I wholeheartedly agree. A machine can churn out many things. Except for the depth of heart and soul that understands the journey where the words came from.
As I am now in my 60s, there are plenty of loves I’ve left behind. Human and otherwise. I love this poem for its honesty and its grief. Since I have the benefit of knowing that the child was not Leonard Cohen’s, and he and Marianne stayed friends forever, wisdom tells me that the lifelong friendship and lived experiences may have overcome whatever romantic love was forsaken.