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# Commonplace Book: Leonard Cohen
- URL: https://there-might-be-cupcakes-podcast.ghost.io/commonplace-book-leonard-cohen/
- Published: 2023-08-23T15:49:59.000Z
- Updated: 2025-02-03T15:54:04.000Z
- Description: “Suzanne”
- Author: Carla Pettigrew
- Tags: Newsletter, #Migrated-1738597973835, #Import 2025-02-03 15:53

Sometimes I can see things as I am hearing them. Watercolor and pen.

> Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river  
> You can hear the boats go by  
> You can spend the night beside her  
> And you know that she's half crazy  
> But that's why you want to be there  
> And she feeds you tea and oranges  
> That come all the way from China  
> And just when you mean to tell her  
> That you have no love to give her  
> Then she gets you on her wavelength  
> And she lets the river answer  
> That you've always been her lover  
> And you want to travel with her  
> And you want to travel blindly  
> And you know that she will trust you  
> For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.  
>  
>  
> And Jesus was a sailor  
> When he walked upon the water  
> And he spent a long time watching  
> From his lonely wooden tower  
> And when he knew for certain  
> Only drowning men could see him  
> He said "All men will be sailors then  
> Until the sea shall free them"  
> But he himself was broken  
> Long before the sky would open  
> Forsaken, almost human  
> He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone  
> And you want to travel with him  
> And you want to travel blindly  
> And you think maybe you'll trust him  
> For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.  
>  
> Now Suzanne takes your hand  
> And she leads you to the river  
> She is wearing rags and feathers  
> From Salvation Army counters  
> And the sun pours down like honey  
> On our lady of the harbour  
> And she shows you where to look  
> Among the garbage and the flowers  
> There are heroes in the seaweed  
> There are children in the morning  
> They are leaning out for love  
> And they will lean that way forever  
> While Suzanne holds the mirror  
> And you want to travel with her  
> And you want to travel blindly  
> And you know that you can trust her  
> For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.

Cohen first published “Suzanne” as a poem in *Parasites of Heaven* in 1966, then sang it on the album *Songs of Leonard Cohen* on 1967\. Its writing was inspired by Cohen's friendship with dancer [Suzanne Verdal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne%5FVerdal). She would invite Cohen to visit her by the Montreal harbor, where they would have tea, and walk past the church of [Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours%5FChapel), where sailors were blessed before their voyages. Cohen plumbed his diaries and his memories for much of his poems and songs.