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Teachers |
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Leonard Cohen |
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I met a woman long ago |
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her hair the black that black can go, |
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Are you a teacher of the heart? |
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Soft she answered no. |
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I met a girl across the sea, |
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her hair the gold that gold can be, |
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Are you a teacher of the heart? |
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Yes, but not for thee. |
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I met a man who lost his mind |
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in some lost place I had to find, |
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follow me the wise man said, |
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but he walked behind. |
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I walked into a hospital |
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where none was sick and none was well, |
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when at night the nurses left |
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I could not walk at all. |
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Morning came and then came noon, |
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dinner time a scalpel blade |
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lay beside my silver spoon. |
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Some girls wander by mistake |
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into the mess that scalpels make. |
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Are you the teachers of my heart? |
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We teach old hearts to break. |
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One morning I woke up alone, |
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the hospital and the nurses gone. |
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Have I carved enough my Lord? |
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Child, you are a bone. |
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I ate and ate and ate, |
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no I did not miss a plate, well |
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How much do these suppers cost? |
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We'll take it out in hate. |
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I spent my hatred everyplace, |
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on every work on every face, |
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someone gave me wishes |
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and I wished for an embrace. |
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Several girls embraced me, then |
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I was embraced by men, |
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Is my passion perfect? |
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No, do it once again. |
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I was handsome I was strong, |
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I knew the words of every song. |
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Did my singing please you? |
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No, the words you sang were wrong. |
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Who is it whom I address, |
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who takes down what I confess? |
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Are you the teachers of my heart? |
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We teach old hearts to rest. |
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Oh teachers are my lessons done? |
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I cannot do another one. |
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They laughed and laughed and said, Well child, |
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are your lessons done? |
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are your lessons done? |
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are your lessons done? |