Only drowning men could see him

The Celtic daily prayer book of Victoria's that I read at night quoted Leonard Cohen in the July 6th passage, which sent me to the computer to find the rest of the lyrics to "Suzanne." The quoted fragment came from the part beginning: "And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water ..." I remember hearing a cover of this song in the very early '70's, I think. I know it was Noel Harrison, Rex's son, who sang it. And I know I was intrigued. So I followed a google link to discover that Suzanne was the wife of a friend of Leonard's with a loft on the water in Montreal, overlooking the St. Lawrence River. Here's the real Suzanne, who gave Leonard Constant Comment tea (tea and oranges) and here are the rest of the lyrics, in case you've forgotten! 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 blind 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 blind 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 blind And you know that you can trust her For she's touched your perfect body with her mind. Lovely, evocative!