Love me to the end of the dance
By Tom Quiner
Dance me through the panic ’til I’m gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love.Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We’re both of us beneath our love, we’re both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I’m gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
He was gassed to death for the crime of being a Jew.
She was torn asunder for the crime of being inconvenient.
What were the last sounds he heard? Beguiling variations on Wagner performed by burning violins.
What were the last sounds she heard? “Suction, please.”
Imagine the perversity of the Nazis. They commanded Jewish string quartets to play at Nazi crematoriums as they killed innocent men, women, and children out of single-minded bigotry.
Imagine the perversity of another culture, one that is pushing taxpayers to pay for the extermination of the “children who are asking to be born.” Our preborn are as innocent as the executed Jews. The difference: our babies are killed out of apathy, not hate.
Just as man competed with God in ancient Babylon, modern man competes with God in determining who has a right to life.
The Nazis played god at Auschwitz.
Modern day fathers and mothers play god with their children in the womb.
Leonard Cohen’s evocative lyrics and haunting melody are brilliant. What do they mean? Is it simply that life is short, let us go out with a bang?
Is it that, if you’re going to treat me as a specimen and take my life away from me, then let me savor the love of my life until my final, burning passion?
Cohen writes as a Jew.
I react as his brother in God through the prism of my faith in Christ. I keep turning over his phrase, “dance me to the end of love.”
I want to flip the phrase.
I think of that girl in her mom’s womb. Her heart cries out, “love me to the end of the dance.”
That’s the true choice facing these dads and moms, to love their child no matter what.
After all, isn’t love patient? Isn’t it kind?
Isn’t love all about giving?
It certainly isn’t about taking, but modern day “choice” is all about taking, not giving.
Savor Leonard Cohen’s bittersweet paean to love and loss. The song is a gem.
Let us love each other from the first sweet note until the end of the dance.
[This post is written in honor of the 55 million Americans who have been aborted since the Roe v. Wade decision 40 hears ago. Join the Iowa March for Life tomorrow at 11AM on the WEST steps of the capitol here in Des Moines. The March will be led by Governor Terry Branstad and Bishop Richard Pates.]
Are you the one who posted the video interspersing clips of Obama’s gun control speech (the “we must protect and care for our children” portions) with clips of pro-life marchers? I thought it was pretty powerful stuff.
Yes, I posted it, although we didn’t produce it.
If you liked that, check out http://the40film.com
The music of Leonard Cohen is truly inspirational, passionate and filled with depth. Thank you for this post. And prayers and best wishes for your effort on the march. Kids too deserve a choice – to be born.