Leonard Cohen - Necropsy of love

Necropsy of love

If it came about you died
It might be said I loved you
Love is as absolute as death is
And neither bears false witness to the other
But you remain alive

No, I do not love you
Hate the word
That private tyranny inside a public sound
Your freedom's yours and not my own
But hold my separate madness like a sword
And plunge it in your body all night long

If death shall strip our bones of all but bones
Then here's the flesh and flesh that's drunken-sweet
As wine cups in deceptive lunar light
Reach up your hand and turn the moonlight off
And maybe it was never there at all
So never promise anything to me
But reach across the darkness with your hand
Reach across the distance of tonight
And touch the moving moment once again
Before you fall asleep

Al Purdy, 1965