{"id":752,"date":"2008-08-19T10:41:06","date_gmt":"2008-08-19T09:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/?p=752"},"modified":"2008-08-19T10:41:06","modified_gmt":"2008-08-19T09:41:06","slug":"a-thousand-kisses-deep-book-of-longing-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/2008\/08\/19\/a-thousand-kisses-deep-book-of-longing-version\/","title":{"rendered":"A Thousand Kisses Deep (book of longing version)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nYou came to me this morning
\nAnd you handled me like meat.
\nYou\u00b4d have live alone to know
\nHow good that feels, how sweet.
\nAnonymous, and hard, and fast –
\n(I\u00b4d know you in my sleep) –
\nThen born together, born at last
\nA thousand kisses deep.<\/p>\n

I loved you when you opened
\nLike a lily to the heat.
\nI\u00b4m just another snowman
\nStanding in the rain and sleet,
\nWho loved you with his frozen love
\nHis second-hand physique –
\nWith all he is, and all he was
\nA thousand kisses deep.<\/p>\n

All soaked in sex, and pressed against
\nThe limits of the sea:
\nI saw there were no oceans left
\nFor scavengers like me.
\nWe made it to the forward deck
\nI blessed our remnant fleet –
\nAnd then consented to be wrecked
\nA thousand kisses deep.<\/p>\n

It\u00b4s true that you could lie to me
\nIt\u00b4s true you could to cheat
\nThe means no longer guarantee
\nThe virtue in deceit.
\nThat truth is bent, that beauty spent,
\nThat style is obsolete –
\nO since the Holy Spirit went
\nA thousand kisses deep.<\/p>\n

(So what about this inner Light
\nThat\u00b4s boundless and unique?
\nI\u00b4m slouching through another night
\nA thousand kisses deep.)<\/p>\n

I\u00b4m turning tricks; I\u00b4m getting fixed,
\nI\u00b4m back on Boogie Street.
\nI tried to quit the business –
\nHey, I\u00b4m lazy and I\u00b4m weak.
\nBut sometimes when the night is slow,
\nThe wretched and the meek,
\nWe gather up our hearts and go
\nA thousand kisses deep.<\/p>\n

(And fragrant is the thought of you,
\nThe file is now complete –
\nExcept what we forgot to do
\nA thousand kisses deep.)<\/p>\n

The ponies run, the girls are young,
\nThe odds are there to beat.
\nYou win a while, and then it\u00b4s done –
\nYour little winning streak.
\nAnd summoned now to deal
\nWith your invincible defeat,
\nYou live your life as if it\u00b4s real
\nA thousand kisses deep.<\/p>\n

(I jammed with Diz and Dante –
\nI did not have their sweep –
\nBut once or twice, they let me play
\nA thousand kisses deep.)<\/p>\n

And I\u00b4m still working with the wine,
\nStill dancing cheek to cheek.
\nThe band is playing “Auld Lang Syne” –
\nThe heart will not retreat.
\nAnd maybe I had miles to drive,
\nAnd promises to keep –
\nYour ditch it all to stay alive
\nA thousand kisses deep.<\/p>\n

And now you are the Angel Death
\nAnd now the Paraclete;
\nNow you are the Quickening Breath
\nAnd now the Belsen heap.
\nNo turning from the threat of love,
\nNo acrobatic leap –
\nAs witnessed here in time and blood
\nA thousand kisses deep\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Leonard Cohen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You came to me this morning And you handled me like meat. You\u00b4d have live alone to know How good that feels, how sweet. Anonymous, and hard, and fast – (I\u00b4d know you in my sleep) – Then born together, born at last A thousand kisses deep. I loved you when you opened Like a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quotes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5KQtW-c8","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idiolect.org.uk\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}