Tributo a Leonard Cohen: The Stranger

Em Leonard Cohen nunca a face literária fica oculta. É claramente para quem gosta de algo mais do que de sonhos adolescentes. Pesadelos também, por vezes... Em jeito de homenagem, aqui fica um dos seus mais emblemáticos poemas/letras, The Stranger Song, encontrável em The Songs of Leonard Cohen, precisamente o seu primeiro álbum, gravado quando já ele ia nos seus trinta e tais:

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender,
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
you find he did not leave you very much
not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
And then leaning on your window sill
he'll say one day you caused his will
to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter
And then taking from his wallet
an old schedule of trains, he'll say
I told you when I came I was a stranger
I told you when I came I was a stranger.
But now another stranger seems
to want you to ignore his dreams
as though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before
his golden arm dispatching cards
but now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.
Ah you hate to see another tired man
lay down his hand
like he was giving up the holy game of poker
And while he talks his dreams to sleep
you notice there's a highway
that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder.
It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder.
You tell him to come in sit down
but something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close your shelter
You try the handle of the road
It opens do not be afraid
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's you my love, you who are the stranger.
Well, I've been waiting, I was sure
we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for
I think it's time to board another
Please understand, I never had a secret chart
to get me to the heart of this
or any other matter
When he talks like this
you don't know what he's after
When he speaks like this,
you don't know what he's after.
Let's meet tomorrow if you choose
upon the shore, beneath the bridge
that they are building on some endless river
Then he leaves the platform
for the sleeping car that's warm
You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter
And it comes to you, he never was a stranger
And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind ...
And leaning on your window sill ...
I told you when I came I was a stranger.

Muito brevemente, Leonard Cohen nasceu em Montreal, Canadá, a 21 de Setembro de 1934, de uma família judia da classe média. O seu pai, um comerciante de vestuário, morreu-lhe quando tinha apenas nove anos e Leonard cresceu num ambiente liberal e em que sempre se sentiu encorajado a expressar-se.
Começou a tocar guitarra aos 13 anos, supostamente para impressionar uma rapariga, mas em apenas um a dois anos já interpretava os seus próprios temas em bares locais. Mais tarde, formou-se em Estudos Ingleses pela Universidade McGill e, apesar das suas notas medianas, ganhou o Prémio McNaughton de escrita criativa em 1955, ainda antes de completar a licenciatura.
O seu primeiro livro de poemas, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956) foi aclamado pela crítica, tendo-se-lhe seguido mais duas obras líricas. Entretanto, Leonard experimentava com muitas mulheres, com o LSD e viajava pelo mundo fora. Mudou-se brevemente para Inglaterra em 1959, mas foi na ilha grega de Hidra que viveu durante sete anos, ainda que com viagens de regresso ao Canadá e Estados Unidos. Em 1963 publicou o seu primeiro romance, The Favorite Game, que prosseguiu com Beautiful Losers, em 1966.
O seu primeiro álbum, desde logo complexo e melancólico, surgiu somente em 1968, na sequência de um apadrinhamento musical de Judy Collins. Cohen gravou nove álbuns de originais, contando ainda com múltiplas compilações, um par de álbuns ao vivo e colaborações interessantes, sendo que em algumas lê os seus próprios poemas. Vários dos seus temas foram também interpretados por artistas tão díspares como Nana Mouskouri e Nick Cave.
Em 1993, Leonard Cohen, que nunca deixou de publicar o ocasional livro de poemas, retirou-se para o Zen Center de Mount Baldy, perto de Los Angeles, tendo aí sido feito monge zen em 1996. A partir de 1999 regressou ao mundo dos mais comuns mortais.

Imagens de www.webheights.net.