Passing Through

Dick Blakeslee / Leonard Cohen: Live Songs (1972)

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I saw	Jesus on the cross on a	hill called Calva	ry:

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"Do you hate mankind for what they done to	you?"

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He said, "	Talk of love, not hate, things to	do - it's getting	late.

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I've so little time and I'm	only passing	through."

I saw Adam leave the Garden with an apple in his hand,

I said "Now you're out, what are you going to do?"

"Plant some crops and pray for rain, maybe raise a little cane.

I'm an orphan now, and I'm only passing through."

I was with Washington at Valley Ford, shivering in the snow.

I said, "How come the men here suffer like they do?"

"Men will suffer, men will fight, even die for what is right;

even though they know they're only passing through."

I was with Franklin Roosevelt's side on the night before he died.

He said, "One world must come out of World War Two" (ah, the fool)

"Yankee, Russian, white or tan," he said, "A man is still a man.

We're all on one road, we're only passing through."

I rode with old Abe Lincoln on that train to Gettysburg,

I said: “What are we gonna do?”

He said: “All men must be unconditonally free

Or there is no reason to be passing through.”