So Long, Marianne
So Long, Marianne - context Summary
Inspired by Marianne Ihlen
Written as a personal, songlike address to Marianne Ihlen, the poem appears in Leonard Cohen’s 1967 Songs of Leonard Cohen. It frames a remembered romance with tenderness and resigned humor: intimate gestures, missed connections and shared rituals recur while the speaker accepts separation. The voice balances vulnerability and irony, turning specific private details into a wider meditation on love’s persistence despite distance and change.
Read Complete AnalysesCome over to the window, my little darling I'd like to try to read your palm I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy Before I let you take me home Well you know that I love to live with you But you make me forget so very much I forget to pray for the angels And then the angels forget to pray for us We met when we were almost young Deep in the green lilac park You held on to me like I was a crucifix As we went kneeling through the dark Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again Your letters they all say that you're beside me now Then why do I feel alone? I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web Is fastening my ankle to a stone For now I need your hidden love I'm cold as a new razor blade You left when I told you I was curious I never said that I was brave Oh, you are really such a pretty one I see you've gone and changed your name again And just when I climbed this whole mountainside To wash my eyelids in the rain Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again
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