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Book of Mercy
Popular since its original publication more than 25 years ago, Leonard Cohen's classic book of contemporary psalms is now beautifully repackaged.
Internationally celebrated for his writing and his music, Leonard Cohen is revered as one of the great writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Now beautifully repackaged, the poems in Book of Mercy brim with praise, despair, anger, doubt and trust. Speaking from the heart of the modern world, yet in tones that resonate with an older devotional tradition, these verses give voice to our deepest, most powerful intuitions.
Internationally celebrated for his writing and his music, Leonard Cohen is revered as one of the great writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Now beautifully repackaged, the poems in Book of Mercy brim with praise, despair, anger, doubt and trust. Speaking from the heart of the modern world, yet in tones that resonate with an older devotional tradition, these verses give voice to our deepest, most powerful intuitions.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Leonard Cohen
243books1,932followersLeonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963.
Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1968 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret, and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone, sometimes bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.
His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.
Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 for his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".
Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1968 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret, and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone, sometimes bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.
His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.
Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 for his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
July 17, 2022
Face me to the rays of love, O source of light, or face me to the majesty of your darkness, but not here, do not leave me here, where death is forgotten, and the new thing grins.
My plan was to read a great Canadian book on the first of July, my dear Canadian friend, Carolyn helped me to chooseThe Stone Angel.
A few last busy weeks ruined this plan, though yesterday, suddenly I saw Leonard Cohen's novel, One of my favorite singers, I had no idea he wrote at least two novelsBeautiful Losers,The Favorite Game(for sure going to read them) and he's Canadian!
IT IS ALL AROUND ME, THE darkness. You are my only shield. Your name is my only light...
No, I have not been living in a cave or under a rock, I think!
MY SON AND I LIVED IN A cave for many years, hiding from the Romans, the Christians, and the apostate Jews. Night and day we studied the letters of one word. When one of us grew tired, the other would urge him on. One morning he said, ‘I’ve had enough...
Book of Mercyis a collection of 50 poems in 2 parts, love, emotion, faith, what can I say?! I just loved it.
My favorite one
NOT KNOWING WHERE TO go, I go to you. Not knowing where to turn, I turn to you. Not knowing how to speak, I speak to you. Not knowing what to hold, I bind myself to you. Having lost my way, I make my way to you. Having soiled my heart, I lift my heart to you. Having wasted my days, I bring the heap to you...
My plan was to read a great Canadian book on the first of July, my dear Canadian friend, Carolyn helped me to chooseThe Stone Angel.
A few last busy weeks ruined this plan, though yesterday, suddenly I saw Leonard Cohen's novel, One of my favorite singers, I had no idea he wrote at least two novelsBeautiful Losers,The Favorite Game(for sure going to read them) and he's Canadian!
IT IS ALL AROUND ME, THE darkness. You are my only shield. Your name is my only light...
No, I have not been living in a cave or under a rock, I think!
MY SON AND I LIVED IN A cave for many years, hiding from the Romans, the Christians, and the apostate Jews. Night and day we studied the letters of one word. When one of us grew tired, the other would urge him on. One morning he said, ‘I’ve had enough...
Book of Mercyis a collection of 50 poems in 2 parts, love, emotion, faith, what can I say?! I just loved it.
My favorite one
NOT KNOWING WHERE TO go, I go to you. Not knowing where to turn, I turn to you. Not knowing how to speak, I speak to you. Not knowing what to hold, I bind myself to you. Having lost my way, I make my way to you. Having soiled my heart, I lift my heart to you. Having wasted my days, I bring the heap to you...
March 15, 2015
I don't always understand Leonard Cohen. Sometimes his references are too deep or not in my pool of knowledge, but even when i don't understand his words, i understand the feelings. This book is written in prose, but it is pure poetry. To be more exact, it is psalms. A soul crying out for understanding, love, protection, and many other things. The feelings expressed are ecumenical, finding truth and expression in the stories and myths of several faiths. I am in awe of his writing.
May 14, 2009
Cohen sings from the gap. He knows exactly what his pain is all about, but that doesn't stop him from feeling it. He prays to a masculine God, which does not resonate so much for me, personally, but he is a Jewish man who believes in the Judeo-Christian divinity, and he sure isn't alone in that so I can't really fault him. My favorite verse from the collection is #27 which starts, "Israel, and you who call yourself Israel, the Church that calls itself Israel, and the revolt that calls itself Israel, and every nation chosen to be a nation--none of these lands is yours, all of you are thieves of holiness, all of you at war with Mercy." This poet speaks for himself, sings for himself, and has captured the hearts of millions, so all I'll say is it was my great honor to see him in concert this March. The 74-yr-old man moved like a cat and received ovations after every other number. He played four encores and at the end of a three-hour concert said coyly, "Well I hope you're satisfied." So rock on with your bad self, Leonard. Thanks for your contributions to humanity.
October 26, 2016
"Book of Mercy" is a collection of psalms, written in what seems to me as a very truthful tone with regards to the original, Biblical psalms. The three star rating is more because I didn't enjoy the subject itself, but I should have the ability to give a separate rating of five stars to Cohen's artistry with words. This man is capable of amazing metaphors and the words just seem to flow in a constant, beautiful stream from his mind.
July 24, 2022
“How long sustain the mutiny of this denial?”
“You bound me to my fingerprints, as you bind every man, except the ones who need no binding. You led me to this field where I can dance with a broken knee.”
“Your name is the sweetness of time, and you carry me close into the night,”
« Let me raise the brokenness to you, to the
world where the breaking is for love. »
“You bound me to my fingerprints, as you bind every man, except the ones who need no binding. You led me to this field where I can dance with a broken knee.”
“Your name is the sweetness of time, and you carry me close into the night,”
« Let me raise the brokenness to you, to the
world where the breaking is for love. »
November 27, 2019
One of his most personal books of poetry. The Jewish symbolism and discourse is truly touching and his use of language is, as always, powerful. Leonard Cohen passed away this week and I could not ask for a more appropriate book to mourn him with. Rest In peace 'World's Last Troubadour'.
Second read (2019):
Cohen seems to be writing from a calmer space, however, many of the internal struggles present inDeath of a Ladies manremain on Cohen's mind. Judaism, in the first set of poems, is portrayed as un-abandonable, horrific, beautiful, and at the same time as the source of his loneliness.
It is interesting to see Cohen’s relationship to Judaism transform throughout the EoS, DoLM, BoM eras. In BoM, the cruel and judgmental god of DoLM is present but temperate. The law is both tyrannical but also merciful. Mercy is the true orientation of Judaism in this volume: “it is your judgment [that] parches me” (poem 34).
The prayer-like nature of these poems cannot be overstated. The poems inBook of Mercyread as if they were taken out of a prayer book.
Second read (2019):
Cohen seems to be writing from a calmer space, however, many of the internal struggles present inDeath of a Ladies manremain on Cohen's mind. Judaism, in the first set of poems, is portrayed as un-abandonable, horrific, beautiful, and at the same time as the source of his loneliness.
It is interesting to see Cohen’s relationship to Judaism transform throughout the EoS, DoLM, BoM eras. In BoM, the cruel and judgmental god of DoLM is present but temperate. The law is both tyrannical but also merciful. Mercy is the true orientation of Judaism in this volume: “it is your judgment [that] parches me” (poem 34).
The prayer-like nature of these poems cannot be overstated. The poems inBook of Mercyread as if they were taken out of a prayer book.
February 16, 2021
YOU HAVE SWEETENED your word on my lips. My son too has heard the song that does not belong to him. From Abraham to Augustine, the nations have not known you, though every cry, every curse is raised on the foundation of your holiness. You placed me in this mystery and you let me sing, though only from this curious corner. You bound me to my fingerprints, as you bind every man, except the ones who need no binding. You led me to this field where I can dance with a broken knee. You led me safely to this night, you gave me a crown of darkness and light, and tears to greet my enemy. Who can tell of your glory, who can number your forms, who dares expound the interior life of god? And now you feed my household, you gather them to sleep, to dream, to dream freely, you surround them with the fence of all that I have seen. Sleep, my son, my small daughter, sleep – this night, this mercy has no boundaries.
April 18, 2019
Molto meglio le canzoni, ma indubbiamente quest'uomo ha fascino e carisma da vendere.
March 14, 2007
Absolutely beautiful prose poetry about the difficulties of faith. If you like his music, and you can tolerate a plethora of Biblical references, you'll enjoy this book quite a bit. He got me through college.
May 19, 2014
I do not know the world is lied
I have lied
I do not know if the world has conspired against love
I have conspired against love
The atmosphere of torture is no comfort
I have tortured
Even without the mushroom cloud
still I would have hated
Listen
I would have done the same things
even if there were no death
I will not be held like a drunkard
under the cold tap of facts
I refuse the universal alibi
Like an empty telephone booth passed night
and remembered
like mirrors in a movie Palace lobby consulted
only on the way out
like a nymphomaniac who binds 1000
into a strange brotherhood
I wait
for each one of you to confess.
This poem, entitled ‘What I’m Doing Here’, was published in 1964 and has something of the character of a manifesto for existential authenticity. In a similar vein the song ‘The story of Isaac’ which is a plea for the leaders of one generation not to slaughter the next generation has the lines:
When it all comes down to dust
I’ll kill you if I must
I’ll help you if I can
When in all comes down to dust
I’ll help you if I must
I’ll kill you if I can.
In both cases I certainly took these to represent an authentic honesty that needs to be confessed if we are to be serious.
This confessional quality is a central motif of a great deal of Cohen’s work which is no doubt part of its deeply personal appeal - but what exactly is being confessed and who is being confessed to is not always straightforward matter particularly in an artist who embraces a number of religious traditions and treats love in a quasi religious manner. Much as my love of Leonard Cohen is profound the last time I saw him live even I found the religious moping and confessing got bit much at times and likewise I’m sure most of his audience politely ignores his occasional missives against abortion.
The Book of Mercy is firmly in religious territory. It consists of 50 prose pieces all of which have a solemn, measured, confessional tone and most of which I barely understood. Maybe they can only be properly understood if you are drenched in the Torah, the Bible and Buddhist scripture. Maybe they can only be properly understood if you are Leonard Cohen. I found them mostly rather indulgent, solipsistic and annoying.
I do however recommend the following:
23: because it contains these lines about pylons: “A strange sound trembled in the air. It was caused by the north wind on the electric lines, a sustained chord of surprising harmonies, power and duration, greatly pleasing, a singing of breath and steel, a huge string instrument of masts and fields, complex tensions.” Likewise I’ve always rather liked pylons.
27: because it seems to be a highly evocative invective against any notion that the state of Israel is anything other than corrupted: “All bloated on their scraps of destiny, all swaggering in the immunity of superstition…. You decompose behind your flimsy armour, your stench alarms you, your panic strikes at love… Your shrines fall through empty air, your tablets are quickly revised, and you bow down in hell beside your hired torturers, and still you count your battalions and crank out your marching songs…”
30: because it seems to be a highly evocative invective against the lack of religiosity in life: “all trade in filth, carry their filth one to another, all walk the streets as though the ground did not recoil, all stretch their necks to bite the air, as though the breath had not withdrawn. The seed bursts without blessing, and the harvest is gathered as if it were food. The bride and the bridegroom sink down combine, and flesh is brought forth as if it were a child….They write and they weep, as though evil were a miracle… There is no world without the blessing, and every plate to which they drop their face is an abomination of blood and suffering and maggots.” Not exactly the cuddly Leonard to whom so many seem enamoured since Jeff Buckley covered ‘Hallelujah’.
31: because it seems a bemoaning of complacency in the spiritual realm: “when the heart grins at itself, the world is destroyed”.
Having quoted those bits I find myself drawn towards the idea of reading it in again in the hope that more of it will make more sense – then I too can bathe in the self-righteous pomposity of religious solipsism.
I have lied
I do not know if the world has conspired against love
I have conspired against love
The atmosphere of torture is no comfort
I have tortured
Even without the mushroom cloud
still I would have hated
Listen
I would have done the same things
even if there were no death
I will not be held like a drunkard
under the cold tap of facts
I refuse the universal alibi
Like an empty telephone booth passed night
and remembered
like mirrors in a movie Palace lobby consulted
only on the way out
like a nymphomaniac who binds 1000
into a strange brotherhood
I wait
for each one of you to confess.
This poem, entitled ‘What I’m Doing Here’, was published in 1964 and has something of the character of a manifesto for existential authenticity. In a similar vein the song ‘The story of Isaac’ which is a plea for the leaders of one generation not to slaughter the next generation has the lines:
When it all comes down to dust
I’ll kill you if I must
I’ll help you if I can
When in all comes down to dust
I’ll help you if I must
I’ll kill you if I can.
In both cases I certainly took these to represent an authentic honesty that needs to be confessed if we are to be serious.
This confessional quality is a central motif of a great deal of Cohen’s work which is no doubt part of its deeply personal appeal - but what exactly is being confessed and who is being confessed to is not always straightforward matter particularly in an artist who embraces a number of religious traditions and treats love in a quasi religious manner. Much as my love of Leonard Cohen is profound the last time I saw him live even I found the religious moping and confessing got bit much at times and likewise I’m sure most of his audience politely ignores his occasional missives against abortion.
The Book of Mercy is firmly in religious territory. It consists of 50 prose pieces all of which have a solemn, measured, confessional tone and most of which I barely understood. Maybe they can only be properly understood if you are drenched in the Torah, the Bible and Buddhist scripture. Maybe they can only be properly understood if you are Leonard Cohen. I found them mostly rather indulgent, solipsistic and annoying.
I do however recommend the following:
23: because it contains these lines about pylons: “A strange sound trembled in the air. It was caused by the north wind on the electric lines, a sustained chord of surprising harmonies, power and duration, greatly pleasing, a singing of breath and steel, a huge string instrument of masts and fields, complex tensions.” Likewise I’ve always rather liked pylons.
27: because it seems to be a highly evocative invective against any notion that the state of Israel is anything other than corrupted: “All bloated on their scraps of destiny, all swaggering in the immunity of superstition…. You decompose behind your flimsy armour, your stench alarms you, your panic strikes at love… Your shrines fall through empty air, your tablets are quickly revised, and you bow down in hell beside your hired torturers, and still you count your battalions and crank out your marching songs…”
30: because it seems to be a highly evocative invective against the lack of religiosity in life: “all trade in filth, carry their filth one to another, all walk the streets as though the ground did not recoil, all stretch their necks to bite the air, as though the breath had not withdrawn. The seed bursts without blessing, and the harvest is gathered as if it were food. The bride and the bridegroom sink down combine, and flesh is brought forth as if it were a child….They write and they weep, as though evil were a miracle… There is no world without the blessing, and every plate to which they drop their face is an abomination of blood and suffering and maggots.” Not exactly the cuddly Leonard to whom so many seem enamoured since Jeff Buckley covered ‘Hallelujah’.
31: because it seems a bemoaning of complacency in the spiritual realm: “when the heart grins at itself, the world is destroyed”.
Having quoted those bits I find myself drawn towards the idea of reading it in again in the hope that more of it will make more sense – then I too can bathe in the self-righteous pomposity of religious solipsism.
September 26, 2023
An annual Rosh Hashanah reading for me. I wrote an article about it, mentioning also Kala Krishnan Ramesh, forBooks Are Our Superpower.
June 13, 2018
I take this paperback version with me everywhere I go now so I can reread for new insights. I love his sometimes blunt, but courageous and graceful spiritual poetry.
December 12, 2023
Deze was te hoog gegrepen, ik begreep eigenlijk vrij weinig van deze proza. Mooi geschreven, dat wel.
—
I TURNED YOU TO STONE. You stepped outside the stone, I turned you to desire. You saw me touch myself. I tumed you into a tradition. The tradition devoured its children. I turned you to loneliness, and it corrupted into a vehicle of power. I turned you into a silence which became a roar of accusation. If it be your will, accept the longing truth beneath this wild activity, Open me, O heart of truth, hollow out the stone, let your Bride fulfil this loneliness. I have no other hope, no other moves. This is my offering of incense. This is what I wish to burn, my darkness with no blemish, my ignorance with no flaw. Bind me to your will, bind me with these threads of sorrow, and gather me out of the afternoon where I have torn my soul on twenty monstrous altars, offering all things but myself.
—
I TURNED YOU TO STONE. You stepped outside the stone, I turned you to desire. You saw me touch myself. I tumed you into a tradition. The tradition devoured its children. I turned you to loneliness, and it corrupted into a vehicle of power. I turned you into a silence which became a roar of accusation. If it be your will, accept the longing truth beneath this wild activity, Open me, O heart of truth, hollow out the stone, let your Bride fulfil this loneliness. I have no other hope, no other moves. This is my offering of incense. This is what I wish to burn, my darkness with no blemish, my ignorance with no flaw. Bind me to your will, bind me with these threads of sorrow, and gather me out of the afternoon where I have torn my soul on twenty monstrous altars, offering all things but myself.
August 16, 2022
will adore Leonard forever for making the concept of god be about endless yearning. god is love, love is god! “Having wasted my days, I bring the heap to you” haaaa
December 14, 2019
"Sing, my soul, to the one who move like music, who comes down like steps of lightning, who widens space with the thought of his name, who returns like death, deep and intangible, to his own absence and his own glory."
3.5 rating is due to my lack of understanding of biblical references and their history. The book are in the form of personal psalms, or praises sung for God or conversation with the soul. These are deep and profound. However, I still didn't enjoy the full collection.
3.5 rating is due to my lack of understanding of biblical references and their history. The book are in the form of personal psalms, or praises sung for God or conversation with the soul. These are deep and profound. However, I still didn't enjoy the full collection.
Read
March 25, 2019There is a certain ecclesiastical aura to this book--ironic, I know, since Cohen is Jewish. These poems, little psalms as each may be considered, moved me in unexpected ways.
June 2, 2022
My favorite poems double as prayers.
March 13, 2021
What starts as eloquent, honest and impassioned poetry gives way to searing and pained political critique of Israel and the wider West.
May 23, 2022
Leonard Cohen’s Book of Mercy is written in the language of the soul; these yearning words need to be felt with the heart, not understood by the mind. Modern day psalms that are a balm for the nameless sorrows and inexpressible joys of the soul. Beautiful, haunting, provocative.
September 20, 2020
Like myrrh to my soul.
January 30, 2018
Not saying it's bad. I just think I need a degree in literature plus a few years of theological studies to actually get it. Or maybe I should at least read it again when I'm in a different state of mind.
It's really a shame. I love Cohen's music, but his poetry doesn't quite resonate with me, nor does his novel.
It's really a shame. I love Cohen's music, but his poetry doesn't quite resonate with me, nor does his novel.
January 16, 2008
this book recently saved me from......well lets just same that his reworking of psalms speaks directly to the hungers and grace that finds my soul. Even if you are not a fan musically (I'm not much of one) you can gain from it.
December 12, 2019
He spoke with a tongue of fire. These new psalms are contemplative, plaintive and yearning. They're also gorgeous. I miss Mr. Cohen.
January 1, 2012
Leonard Cohen is spiritually sadomasochist.
April 5, 2018
"Blessed is the one who waits in the traveller’s heart for his turning."
May 11, 2018
This book is fine, it’s just not amazing. Part of the problem for that, though, is the fact that a lot of it went over my head. Cohen’s writing here is so deeply steeped in his religious beliefs that it’s somewhat off-putting if you’re an atheist, like I am.
Still, if you’re able to look past that and to take it at face value, there’s a lot to enjoy here. Cohen really had a way with words and it’s definitely in evidence here. If you like his songs, you’ll love this.
Still, if you’re able to look past that and to take it at face value, there’s a lot to enjoy here. Cohen really had a way with words and it’s definitely in evidence here. If you like his songs, you’ll love this.
August 18, 2021
"I turned you to stone. You stepped outside the stone."
Fine I got teary eyed about 30 psalms in. It's a great collection and his least offensive work I've read so far. It is also lightweight in its praise/diatribe, and does not steer into melodrama, while retaining what makes Cohen's verse good: fear of God, love of words. I listened to theArrivalscore while reading, which is kind of another collection of prayers. Interesting how men fall on their knees at a certain age, without fail.
Fine I got teary eyed about 30 psalms in. It's a great collection and his least offensive work I've read so far. It is also lightweight in its praise/diatribe, and does not steer into melodrama, while retaining what makes Cohen's verse good: fear of God, love of words. I listened to theArrivalscore while reading, which is kind of another collection of prayers. Interesting how men fall on their knees at a certain age, without fail.
January 19, 2022
In this book we are offered a glimpse of Cohen's genius.
It's a conversation, in simple terms, where in the first part Cohen is wondering, asking, trying to find an answer, and in the second part he turns the conversation into a prayer.
If you have this edition, make sure to read the index of first lines presented at the end which you will find structured as a poem. I don't know if it was on purpose, but it's worth it.
It's a conversation, in simple terms, where in the first part Cohen is wondering, asking, trying to find an answer, and in the second part he turns the conversation into a prayer.
If you have this edition, make sure to read the index of first lines presented at the end which you will find structured as a poem. I don't know if it was on purpose, but it's worth it.
September 10, 2017
Very much like watching a broken man pound a neighbor's door, begging for his love to be returned.
Only his lover is the Hebrew God, and you want to tell the poor lovesick man that your neighbor went on vacation years ago but never came back.
So, four out of five here, because I'm godless but sympathetic to lovers.
Only his lover is the Hebrew God, and you want to tell the poor lovesick man that your neighbor went on vacation years ago but never came back.
So, four out of five here, because I'm godless but sympathetic to lovers.
April 3, 2024
Two stars
I was hoping for Hallelujah, but this was not that.
Some highlights:
The madman dares himself to be born into the question of who he is
The counterfeiter begs forgiveness from the better counterfeiter
Let me dare the boldness of joy
My teacher gave me what I do not need, told me what I need not know.
I was hoping for Hallelujah, but this was not that.
Some highlights:
The madman dares himself to be born into the question of who he is
The counterfeiter begs forgiveness from the better counterfeiter
Let me dare the boldness of joy
My teacher gave me what I do not need, told me what I need not know.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews