And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand
before the lord of song, with nothing on my
tongue but hallelujah – Leonard Cohen


I have seen the finality of my life from where I stand.
Too late now to be convinced otherwise; a lifted tongue
already brought to its note of joy, the somber landscape
behind it, fields grown in the wreckage. Here awaits
the kingdom behind the question.

And what now? After your heartbreaks?
After your litany of disappointments?

I cannot speak for you, whoever you imagine yourself
to be. Nor for your accomplishments, your grievances,
your lonely odes. The world is violent, yes. And gentle.
And full of mystery.

Ahead is a path built not of promise, or at all, but of
the millions sprouting where the thousands are slain.
The world is remade again. And again, fresh each day.

As for me, I’ll arrive in love and taken again by the
beauty of what saved me; Poetry. Awe. Sunrise.
Alone as I am, alone as this worn body has walked,
I’ll stand with lips parted, tongue yielded in praise,
whispering nothing but the recited prayer –
Hallelujah.

Hallelujah anyway.