Photo: WENN
Leonard Cohen’s letter to a dying Marianne Ihlen - his former lover and the subject of his song ‘So Long, Marianne’ - is a moving and beautiful thing.
As CBC reports, the singer met Ihlen in the 1960s, and they lived together for seven years. In one of his most famous songs, Cohen sings, “Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began / to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.”
When Cohen discovered last month that Ihlen was battling leukaemia and had only a few days to live, he sent her the following letter:
“Well Marianne it's come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.
“And you know that I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don't need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road…”
Marianne Ihlen died on 29 July at the age of 81.
