If It Be Your Will

On impulse I picked up the dvd Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man the last time I was perusing videos. I haven't been a fan. He's just someone I've known is out there. But I liked the line up of performers (Nick Cave and Beth Orton!) and my love for poetry has been renewed, so I thought it'd be interesting to check out. One of the disadvantages to being such a modern, forward thinking soul is that I often miss significant artists of previous generations until something or someone prompts me to experience their work. Wow! I had no idea what I was missing not having partaken of Cohen's poetry and song.

In an instrumental section of the song above, Cohen says these wonderful words about writing, "What struck me as beauty...had a powerful effect on me...and I prayed to have a response to the things that were so clearly beautiful to me." Oh yes, I once had the same prayer when I wrote poetry. I miss that part of myself very much. I think it's time to try to write poems again.

But I especially love Antony's rendition of If It Be Your Will. I adore Antony's voice. I heard him first on NPR last year. He's up there with Jeff Buckley as far as beautiful male voices are concerned. If you haven't heard him, give him a listen.