Alexandr(i)a

I like the Leonard Cohen song "Alexandra Leaving" as KSAL Radio listeners are aware. The lyrics are thus:

Suddenly the night has grown colder.
The god of love preparing to depart.
Alexandra hoisted on his shoulder,
They slip between the sentries of the heart.

Upheld by the simplicities of pleasure,
They gain the light, they formlessly entwine;
And radiant beyond your widest measure
They fall among the voices and the wine.

It’s not a trick, your senses all deceiving,
A fitful dream, the morning will exhaust –
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

Even though she sleeps upon your satin;
Even though she wakes you with a kiss.
Do not say the moment was imagined;
Do not stoop to strategies like this.

As someone long prepared for this to happen,
Go firmly to the window. Drink it in.
Exquisite music. Alexandra laughing.
Your firm commitments tangible again.

And you who had the honor of her evening,
And by the honor had your own restored –
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving;
Alexandra leaving with her lord.

Even though she sleeps upon your satin;
Even though she wakes you with a kiss.
Do not say the moment was imagined;
Do not stoop to strategies like this.

As someone long prepared for the occasion;
In full command of every plan you wrecked –
Do not choose a coward’s explanation
That hides behind the cause and the effect.

And you who were bewildered by a meaning;
Whose code was broken, crucifix uncrossed –
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving.
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost.

I was surprised a couple of months ago reading a book of poetry to come upon the poem "The God Abandons Antony" by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy; it looked eerily familiar.

The author of the website writes: "Anthony, in Cavafy's poem is, of course, Marcus Antonius, Cleopatra's lover. The poem refers to Plutarch's story that, when Anthony was besieged in Alexandria by Octavian, the night before the city fell into enemy hands, he heard an invisible troupe leaving the city. He heard the sounds of instruments and voices making their way through the city. Then, he passed out; the god Bacchus (Dionysus), Antony's protector, was deserting him." [Note: Fellow Rome watchers will note that in history, Octavian and Marcus Antonius do indeed have a falling-out.]

Cohen changes the focus from a city called Alexandria to a woman named Alexandra.

I prefer Cohen's version, though it may partly be a matter of translation. For example, I like the line "Do not stoop to strategies like this" better than "Don't degrade yourself with empty hopes like these." And lines like "Your firm commitments tangible again" (that do not correspond to lines from the original) are classic Cohen.

This song is a spectacularly successful adaptation of a good poem.