Chelsea Hotel #2

I remember you well
in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous,
your heart was a legend.
You told me again
you preferred handsome men
but for me you
would make an exception.
And clenching your fist
for the ones like us
who are oppressed
by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself,
you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but
we have the music."
And then you got away,
didn't you, babe,
you just turned your back
on the crowd.
You got away,
I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you,
I need you, I don't need you
and all of that jiving around.

--Leonard Cohen
Warsaw, Poland
1985