Leonard Cohen: everybody knows

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
Everybody knows the war is over.
Everybody knows the good guys lost.
Everybody knows the fight was fixed:
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.
That’s how it goes.
Everybody knows.

Everybody knows the boat is leaking.
Everybody knows the captain lied.
Everybody got this broken feeling,
Like their father or their dog just died.
Everybody talking to their pockets.
Everybody wants a box of chocolates and
a long stern rose. Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that you love me, baby.
Everybody knows that you really do.
Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful,
Give or take a night or two.
Everybody knows you’ve been discreet,
but there were so many people you just had to meet
without your clothes. And everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the Plague is coming.
Everybody knows that it’s moving fast.
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
-just a shining artifarct of the past.
Everybody knowsthe scene is dead,
but there’s gonna be a meter on your bed
that will disclose what everybody knows.

And everybody knows that you’re in trouble.
Everybody knows what you’ve been through,
from the bloody cross on top of Cavalry to the beach of Malibu.
Everybody knows its coming apart:
take one last look at this Sacred Heart
before it blows. And everybody knows.


Laatste woorden van een dame op haar sterfbed: “ach, wat een zonde van mezelf !”