Leonard Cohen at the Beacon Sisters of Mercy NYC 2/19/09

A poems set to music, this is another Cohen classic from his debut Album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1968. It's about some nuns he met in Montreal, the story goes.

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or
gone. They were waiting for me when I thought that
I just can't go on. And they brought me their
comfort and later they brought me this song. Oh I
hope you run into them, you who've been travelling
so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot
control. It begins with your family, but soon it
comes around to your soul. Well I've been where
you're hanging, I think I can see how you're
pinned: When you're not feeling holy, your

loneliness says that you've sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession
to them. They touched both my eyes and I touched
the dew on their hem. If your life is a leaf that
the seasons tear off and condemn they will bind
you with love that is graceful and green as a
stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run
into them soon. Don't turn on the lights, you can
read their address by the moon. And you won't make
me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your
night: We weren't lovers like that and besides it
would still be all right, We weren't lovers like
that and besides it would still be all right.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Leonard
• Cohen
• Sisters
• of
• Mercy
• nuns
• Catholicism
• Montreal
• Canada
• '60s
• folk
• rock
• Beacon
• New
• York
• Manhattan