Cohen sings of his nearly complete subjection towards the will of another. If the will tells him to be silent, he will be silent, if the will tells him he can sing, he will sing. He has great admiration for the will of whoever he is singing about (be it Zen master or a woman or God), as, if allowed to express his true voice ("if a voice be true"), he will sing in praise of him/her from the imperfect landscape, "the broken hill". The person whose will Cohen obliquely praises also has great power, as his/her mercy can redeem the burning hearts in hell, under the condition of course that it is willed. Cohen's great hope in this will, which is presumably a human one, almost borders on praying to a supernatural being, one who can "make us well" if we devote ourselves to it and pray and sing to it. I say his subjection is "nearly" complete because he still urges the will to act on behalf of the suffering, cajoling it in song. The will has the power to "end this night" of the darkness of the human condition, in which people are dressed in only dirty "rags of light" which are fragmented and not fully whole and illuminated. The will at once is something to be a subject of, and something to pray to for spiritual sustenance that it may be capable of bestowing.
Cohen sings of his nearly complete subjection towards the will of another. If the will tells him to be silent, he will be silent, if the will tells him he can sing, he will sing. He has great admiration for the will of whoever he is singing about (be it Zen master or a woman or God), as, if allowed to express his true voice ("if a voice be true"), he will sing in praise of him/her from the imperfect landscape, "the broken hill". The person whose will Cohen obliquely praises also has great power, as his/her mercy can redeem the burning hearts in hell, under the condition of course that it is willed. Cohen's great hope in this will, which is presumably a human one, almost borders on praying to a supernatural being, one who can "make us well" if we devote ourselves to it and pray and sing to it. I say his subjection is "nearly" complete because he still urges the will to act on behalf of the suffering, cajoling it in song. The will has the power to "end this night" of the darkness of the human condition, in which people are dressed in only dirty "rags of light" which are fragmented and not fully whole and illuminated. The will at once is something to be a subject of, and something to pray to for spiritual sustenance that it may be capable of bestowing.
Beautiful rendering, I feel similar about the meaning.
Beautiful rendering, I feel similar about the meaning.