The first song from Leonard Cohen I heard was in Middle School in a town on the banks of the Columbia River, an elective class dedicated to uncovering the meanings of song lyrics. A teacher way ahead of their time piqued our curiosity and for most of a semester we studied “Susanne” and it was a seminal moment of my life. Followed closely by Mom giving me Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” bound with gilt pages in a limited edition box for my sixteenth birthday.

Little did I know at the time that the words of those poets would have such an impact upon my world view and ultimately how life is lived now. R.I.P.