We rise to play a greater part

Many artists touch me, but none quite like Leonard Cohen. In his entire discography, not a single track leaves me indifferent. This man is an angel who has come to Earth to bring balm to the human heart. And his works are timeless.

In these times marked by violence and ignorance, the last track on his album Dear Heather, Villanelle For Our Time, asks to be shared, listened to, read... I've found a beautiful French translation of this poem by Frank Scott (1943), so beautifully set to music by Cohen.

Enjoy!

Villanelle for our time

From bitter searching of the heart,

Quickened with passion and with pain

We rise to play a greater part.

This is the faith from which we start:

Men shall know commonwealth again

From bitter searching of the heart.

We loved the easy and the smart,

But now, with keener hand and brain,

We rise to play a greater part.

The lesser loyalties depart,

And neither race nor creed remain

From bitter searching of the heart.

Not steering by the venal chart

That tricked the mass for private gain,

We rise to play a greater part.

Reshaping narrow law and art

Whose symbols are the millions slain,

From bitter searching of the heart

We rise to play a greater part.