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‘I am so close behind you’: Leonard Cohen’s heartfelt letter

Leonard Cohen predicted his own passing in a sweet note to his former muse.

Leonard Cohen predicted his own passing in a sweet note to his former muse. Photo: Getty

Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen was well aware his time on earth was limited before his death at the age of 82 this week, according to a letter he wrote to a former love in July this year.

The legendary musician penned some heartfelt words to his ex-partner Marianne Ihlen, who inspired his songs So long, Marianne and Bird on the Wire, when he discovered she was on her deathbed with leukaemia.

In Cohen’s letter, which Ihlen’s friend Jan Christian Mollestad shared with CBC, the singer told his ailing love, “I am so close behind you”.

“Well Marianne it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon,” Cohen wrote.

“Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.

“And you know that I’ve always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that.

“But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.”

Ihlen died on July 29, two days after receiving Cohen’s note. True to his word, Cohen passed away mere months after her, on November 11.

Mollestad said his old friend smiled as he read Cohen’s moving letter to her.

“When I read the lines ‘stretch out your hand,’ she stretched out her hand,” Mollestad told CBC.

“I wrote a letter back to Leonard saying in her final moments I hummed Bird on a Wire because that was the song she felt closest to.

“And then I kissed her on the head and left the room, and said “so long, Marianne.”

Listen to some of Leonard Cohen’s greatest songs

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