leonard is my emotional father. ive never found in any other poet, or songwriter, or anyone who speaks a language i thought was my own. his understanding that loss is one of the most vital parts of life, even when you hate loss, keeps me sane. and when i feel near giving up for all the struggling he reminds me all of this is art, so long as you take the ash of whatever burns and use it.

in my head i know there’s no such thing as loss. it’s manmade. in my heart though, this is less clear.

I see you standing on the other side
I don’t know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
We’ll never have to lose it again

LEONARD COHEN [ MUSIC ]