“Dance Me Through the Panic Till I’m Gathered Safely In”

A Fan Remembers and Acknowledges Leonard Cohen’s Work and Genius

Abstract

When Leonard Cohen died in November 2016, many people the world over felt very sad and indeed bereft, at the loss of such a great artist, poet and songwriter. It felt, in Auden’s (1958) words on Freud’s death, another example of:

For every day they die
among us, those who were doing us some good, who knew it was never enough but
hoped to improve a little by living. (p. 68) 

The title of this paper comes from Leonard’s 1984 song “Dance Me to the End of Love”, and has often seemed a powerful description of what a mother provides for her baby and what we as therapists provide to our clients. We try to help them “dance through the panic” and ultimately to feel safely gathered in — firstly with us, within the therapeutic relationship, and in due course within themselves. We provide a “promise of home”, or at least some hope for our clients that they might be able to find that individual sense of self within themselves and connection to others, which feels like “home”.

Whakarāpopotonga

I te matenga o Leonard Cohen i te Whiringa-a-rangi 2016, pōuri kau ana te tini te mano huri noa i te ao mōteatea kau ana i te ngarohanga atu o te tohunga tito waiata, toikupu mahi toi nei. E ai ki tā Ōtene kī (1958) i te matenga o Whoritu:

Mō ia rā taki hinga
rō ngai tātau, rātau e whai hua nei mō tātau, mōhio tonu kore rawa i rahi engari
tōminahia mā te kaiao e whakawhanake. (w. 68)

I ahu mai te pane o tēnei pepa mai i te waita a Renana o te tau 1984 “Kanikanihia au ki te Mutunga o te Aroha”, ā, tērā ia e whakaarohia ana he whakaahuatanga mārohirohi o te o te āhua whakarato a te whaea i tana pēpē me tā tātau ngā kaiwhakaora hinengaro hoki ki ā tātau kiritaki. Ko tā tātau he nana ki te āwhina i a rātau, “pīkarikari i te maurirere” ā, taioreore kia tau te mauritau ki a tātau, i tō tātau whanaungatanga haumanutau tae atu ki te wā e tau ai tō rātau ake mauri. Ko tā tātau he whakarato “oati mauri tau”, he maramara wawata rānei e kitea ai e ā tātau kiritaki he kiritau, he whanaungatanga ki ētahi atu pēnei tonu i te “kāinga”.