It's Torn

I see you in windows that open so wide There's nothing beyond them and no one inside You kick off your sandals and shake out your hair The salt on your shoulders like sparks in the air There's silt on your ankles and sand on your feet The river too shallow, the ocean too deep You smile at your suffering, the sweetest reprieve Why did you leave us? Why did you leave? You kick off your sandals and shake out your hair It's torn where you're dancing, it's torn everywhere It's torn on the right and it's torn on the left It's torn in the center which few can accept It's torn where there's beauty, it's torn where there's death It's torn where there's mercy but torn somewhat less It's torn in the highest from kingdom to crown The messages fly but the network is down Bruised at the shoulder and cut at the wrist The sea rushes home to its thimble of mist The opposites falter, the spirals reverse And Eve must re-enter the sleep of her birth And up through the system, the worlds are withdrawn From every dominion the mind stood upon And now that it's over and now that it's done The name has no number, not even the one Come gather the pieces all scattered and lost The lie in what's holy, the light in what's not The story's been written, the letter's been sealed You gave me a lily, but now it's a field You kick off your sandals and shake out your hair It's torn where you're dancing, it's torn everywhere --- It's Torn - Leonard Cohen