The Thursday dVerse challenge posted by Jill Lyman was to write a poem in response to another poem. I have chosen Leonard Cohen’s poem “Elegy” published in his first poetry book, “Let us Compare Mythologies” in 1956. Since I couldn’t find a copy of it on the internet, I took the above photo of a print version.
I find Leonard Cohen’s poem to be open to a few interpretations. This allowed me to respond, as we often do in conversation, as if my understanding fits with his:
I shall not search for him
along cold city streets,
through lowland mists, nor
where hawks swoop for their prey.
I will turn from gunfire
and wanton cruelty,
from parched wastelands
and scarred tar sands,
to places of comfort.
I will embrace sustenance
contemplate continuity,
the warm caress of sun as
chimes sing in gentle breezes and
seeds nestle in fertile ground,
kind words of love resonating still.
~
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