If you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine
Leonard Cohen says goodbye
In 1960 Leonard Cohen moved from Montreal to Hydra, a peaceful Greek island on which he would live intermittently for the next seven years and write a collection of poetry and two novels. Soon after arriving, he met and fell for Marianne Ihlen, a twenty-three- year-old Norwegian whose husband had abandoned her and their young son. This new relationship blossomed. Ihlen became Cohen’s muse and she inspired, among other songs, 1967’s ‘So Long, Marianne’, embedded above. But they eventually grew apart, and by the 1970s they had moved on. Decades later, in 2016, upon hearing that Ihlen’s health was failing and she had very little time left, Cohen sent her a final farewell. A reply soon arrived, written by Ihlen’s dear friend, Jan Christian Mollestad.
Just a few months after Ihlen’s death, “close behind,” Cohen also passed away.
Well Marianne, it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.
And you know that I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don't need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey.
Goodbye old friend.
Endless love, see you down the road
Dear Leonard,
Marianne slept slowly out of this life yesterday evening. Totally at ease, surrounded by close friends.
Your letter came when she still could talk and laugh in full consciousness. When we read it aloud, she smiled as only Marianne can. She lifted her hand, when you said you were right behind, close enough to reach her.
It gave her deep peace of mind that you knew her condition. And your blessing for the journey gave her extra strength. Jan and her friends who saw what this message meant for her, will all thank you in deep gratitude for replying so fast and with such love and compassion.
In her last hour I held her hand and hummed Bird on a Wire, while she was breathing so lightly. And when we left the room, after her soul had flown out of the window for new adventures, we kissed her head and whispered your everlasting words
So long, Marianne
This exchange can be found in Letters of Note: Music. The audio of these letters being read by Toby Jones and Stephen Fry comes from the identically-named audiobook.
Copyright © 2016, Leonard Cohen, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited.
I'm not crying. It's just raining on my face.
It takes my breath away, but what a way to go.
The poetry between them, both written and acted is a beautiful tableau.