about becoming - or longing to become

I am not what happened to me.
I am what I choose to become.//C. G.Jung

it seems we all end by becoming -- commissionars,
if we are lucky and grow -- old.

A LIFE OF ERRANDS

If You Are Lucky
You Will Grow Old
And LiveA Life Of Errands.
You Will Discern
What People Need
And Provide ItBefore They Ask.
You Will Drive Your Car
Here And There
Delivering And Fetching
And Neither The TrafficNor The Weather
Will Bother You
In The Least.
You Will Whip Down The 405 To San Diego
To Pick Up An Acorn
For Someone's Proverb
And So On And So Forth.
In Spite Of The Ache
In Your Heart
About The Girl You
Never FoundAnd The Fact That
After Years Of Spiritual Rigor
You Did Not Manage
To Enlighten Yourself
A Certain Cheerfulness
Will Begin To Arise
Out Of Your Crushed Hopes And Intentions.
How ThirstilyYou Embrace Your Next Commission:
To Sift Through The Sunglasses
At A Lost And Found In Las Vegas
Just A Few Hours Across The Desert.
Your Hair Is White
You Have Breasts
And A Gut Over Your Belt
You Are No Longer A Boy,
Or Even A Man
But A Sense Of Gratitude
Enlivens Every Move You Make.
Yes, Sir, These Are TheVery Gold-Rimmed Pair
She Left In The Plastic Tray
Beside The Dollar Slot Machines.
No, Sir, I Am Not Lying.

The Book of Longing
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001 Leonard Cohen.