Cohen Leonard Wishing Window Lyrics

Wishing Window Lyrics

(Written By Cohen, Performed In "Night Magic")

(Angels) Come, sleeper to
the window, do you know
Us know? Have we changed? Have you seen us
here
Before? Do you remember long ago
You summoned us across the high
frontier
Of sleep, and bid us urgently appear.
You called, we came, we
waited every night,
Like crystals in solution coming clear,
Until your
dream was sharp enough and bright
To waken you with stabs of
appetite.

(Michael) Is this the moment in my story when
The
messengers of destiny prepare
The usual historic specimen,
Some lonely
little hero starving there,
And feed him with the fruits of solitaire?
Is
this my miracle of bread and fishes?
This the mystery of answered
prayer?
Is this my table laid with golden dishes?

(Angels) Let us not
say prayer, let's just say wishes.
Don't stand there dreaming, let us
in,
It wasn't all that easy getting here. We had
To metamorphosize at
least a hundred
Thousand times through all the dreary realms of
Sense,
just to get us from the astral, to
The mental, to the solid and the
dense.
And that's not counting countless times we spent
Manifesting
aimlessly as
Elements of chaos in the undifferentiated
Anti-universe
before
We even had a chance to be unborn
As shadowy particals in streams
of light --
Now hurry up, we haven't got all night!

(Michael) What am
I supposed to do?

(Angels) Ask for something.

(Michael) I can't
think.

(Angels) Come on darling.

(Michael) Help
me!

(Angels) You can ask for peace on earth. There's a few
That do.
Or you can ask for peace of mind.
It's very rare but we've had one or
two.
Or ask that human suffering unwind
And justify itself by what's
behind.
Too abstract -- somewhat off the beaten track.
We'd like to have
this contract sealed and signed.
Then we must get back -- ask for what you
lack
And we will leave you, sweet insomniac.

(Michael) Well could I
have someone to love?

(Angels) You can

(Michael) Can I send her
away?

(Angels) We have written it down.

(Michael) Then could I
call her back again?

(Angels) You certainly can, you
merry-go-man.

(Michael) Could I write whatever's in my
heart?

(Angels) It's on your desk, the writer's mighty
pen.

(Michael) And could I sing whatever's in my heart?

(Angels)
Just close your eyes and keep your lips apart.

(Michael) I could have my
heart's desire when
And where and how my heart desires it?
And could I
bring the whole world to my heart?

(Angels) O Jesus, not the heart, the
heart again
So boring. Everyone's like everyone
Your famous heart is like
an onion,
All layers and layers of wild distress
All gathered into rings
round nothingness.

(Michael) But can I have it, can I have
it?

(Angels) Yes!

(Michael) If woman, heart and song are
mine
The rest will come, where do I sign?

(Troupe) But could he write
whatever's in his heart?

(Angels) It's on his desk, the writer's mighty
pen.

(Troupe) And could he sing whatever's in his heart?

(Angels)
He'll close his eyes and keep his lips apart

(Everyone) And could he have
his heart's desire when
And where and how his heart desires
it?

(Michael) And could I bring the whole world to my
heart?

(Everyone) O Jesus, not the heart, the heart again
So boring.
Everyone's like everyone
Your famous heart is like an onion,
All layers
and layers of wild distress
All gathered into rings round
nothingness.

(Michael) But can I have it?

(Troupe) Can he have
it?

(Angels) Yes!

(Michael) Can I have it?

(Troupe) Can he
have it?

(Everyone) Yes!

(Angels) The night is ending, we have
many duties
Still, much gold and silver light to spill
On anxious girls
and frightened boys like you,
All brooding deeply on some window
sill.
But one condition there remains to fill.
One term before the heart
begins to play
With other hearts the music of its will.

(Michael) If
I don't agree?

(Angels) Still you have to pay
The ordinary price that
humans pay...
With suff'ring, joy, redemption, and decay!

(Michael)
All my heart's desire ... let's keep the part
about joy.

(Angels)
It's a package.

(Michael) ...Suffering, redemption, and
decay!

(Angels) It's a bitch.

(Michael) I have to get some sleep,
I'm opening
tomorrow night.

(Angels) Then you agree?

(Michael)
Yes, yes, I agree.

(Angels) ...Do you remember long ago
You summoned
us across the high frontier
Of sleep and bid us urgently appear.