Cohen, for Real Toads weekend challenge

Kim has provided two versions of the song Hallelujah to prompt members and participants in the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads to write a poem of praise this weekend.

Wikipedia photo,
album cover circa 1980s

The song was written after much struggle and many rewrites by Canadian singer-songwriter-poet-author Leonard Cohen and became, to the world, much more than a single track on a 1984 Cohen album.
It has been covered so often, and changed so often, that more than 300 versions of it now exist: many, or even most of them, Christian, despite having been written by an observant Jew who is also a Zen-Buddhist.
Kim says of this challenge: "To inspire your own rendition of praise, I share two videos. Watch them. Feel the emotion in each. Hear the beauty in both. Become inspired."

I know Leonard Cohen suffered from depression, and his early works often contained themes of self-harm and suicide. My poem today is in praise of Cohen himself, a man who triumphed over his doubts and fears to become one of the most honored and decorated men in my country today. 
Wikipedia says of him "Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into the AmericanRock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011, Cohen received a Prince of Asturias Award for literature."

I have used many words and phrases taken from the video of Leonard Cohen performing the song as he wrote it. My poem suggests that there was a time or more when his faith was gone. I don't know that it ever was, but I suspect it because of his history of depression.

Wikipedia photo
Leonard Cohen, 2008

The Word

Leonard Cohen knew the word

he knew the only word

was hallelujah

when his faith was gone

he needed proof

he stood and cried

upon the roof

and tried to find

deep in his mind

the note that made them sing oh hallelujah

he cursed the crowd

and pulled his hair

and from his lips he drew a hallelujah

but wondered if it was the chord

that David played, that pleased the Lord

or was it just a lonely hallelujah

a brilliant, lonely singer’s hallelujah?

Kay Davies, December, 2013