My Lady Can Sleep
My Lady Can Sleep - context Summary
Published in 1961
Published in 1961 in The Spice-Box of Earth, Leonard Cohen's "my lady can sleep" is an early, spare lyric that frames intimacy as both tender and isolating. The speaker watches a woman who can sleep on a handkerchief or a fallen leaf, while hunters kneel before her but offer only abiding grief
. The poem’s small, emblematic tokens and restrained voice reflect Cohen's recurring interest in longing, reverence, and the mingling of erotic and sacred tones in his early poetry. It appears amid poems that blend personal desire with spiritual imagery.
My lady can sleep upon a handkerchief or if it be Fall upon a fallen leaf. I have seen the hunters kneel before her hem even in her sleep she turns away from them. The only gift they offer is their abiding grief I pull out my pockets for a handkerchief or leaf.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.