Axe, Amen, So Mote it Be

Hallelujah

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well, it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Well, baby, I've been here before.
I've seen this room, and I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.
But I've seen your flag on the marble arch,
And love is not a victory march,
It's a cold and it is a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Well, there was a time when you'd let me know
What's really going on below,
But now you never show that to me, do you?
But remember when I moved in you,
And the Holy Ghost was moving too,
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Well, maybe there is a God above,
But all that I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you.
It's not a cry that you hear at night,
And it is not somebody who has seen the light
It's a cold and it is a broken Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.

Leonard Cohen gave us that. What gives us reason for venting and exclamation of joy or praise -- which is what 'Halleluja', spell it as you will, is -- varies. If we're lucky, then our reasons are many and manifold.

If we're wise, we learn to cherish our breakages as well as our healings, to find beauty in our pains; we come to terms with our histories. Sorrows teach us and that, too, is a cause for some rejoicing.

Like 'Amen', which comes from the Hebrew 'aman', which is to do with permanency, truth, assent and support, we lose our root of 'hallelujah', diminishing that sound of rejoicing as we do the word 'love' by attaching it to an article of clothing or a flavour of ice cream. Practitioners of earth magic, with their 'So mote' or 'So may it be' attend more keenly to their avowals. Axe (pronounced 'ashay') is the Portuguese spelling of an African word meaning the energy of gods and goddesses or, according to some, of peace.

Life is a fleeing thing (although it need not be nasty and brutish as well as short) and it is well to take the time to revel in small moments for rejoicing, to remember to say 'hallelujah' or to breathe it, to inhale that vivid, vital, 'Yes,' to witness other people's moments of celebration and, supporting them in following their bliss, in holding hope that life with bring them -- will bring all and each of us -- further cause for deep delight, affirm that moment in whatever word or tone or silence best sings the beating heart.