Anima, this is in response to your question
Well, what I can say re the context, is that Leonard Cohen has a strong interest in spirituality (I think he practised Zen Buddhism for some 3 decades).
The letter/the poem reveals the relationship between somebody very spiritual and somebody (the writer of the letter) who’s pretty clueless about spirituality, but can’t fail to notice the dramatic effects his encounter with the spiritual guy have had on his life. I think both characters are in fact the author (L. Cohen said at some point that the blue raincoat was a garment he owned; I’d say he uses it as a metaphor for his spiritual self)
Now you have to bear in mind that the poem takes a more austere view of spirituality than what we are used to at AYP – seclusion, retreating from the world (the house in the desert).
What I find very entertaining is how the writer of the letter doesn’t understand a thing about the person he’s writing to. They seem to be at antipodes (one lives in the desert, the other one in a street where “there’s music all through the evening”). And yet the relationship between the two changed the life of ‘the ordinary guy’ in profound ways.
I won’t say any more, better let you read it in your own way.
By the way, if you start to read Leonard Cohen’s poetry, don’t miss this one (it never fails to give me shivers along the spine) http://www.leonardcohen.com/us/music/essential-leonard-cohen/love-itself
The light came through the window,
Straight from the sun above,
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of Love.
In streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see,
Out of which the Nameless makes
A Name for one like me.
All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.
Then I came back from where I’d been.
My room, it looked the same -
But there was nothing left between
The Nameless and the Name.
I’ll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door -
Then Love itself,
Love Itself was gone.
Other than arithmetic and driving directions, song lyrics are my weakest area of articulation and comprehension. I’ve maintained a somewhat naive appreciation for art and music. Less so with visual art. So it’s really helpful for you to solidify some understanding on Cohen.
