Come Healing

I really loved the film The Farewell which we watched at Cinemateque last week.  It is a moving story about a girl who travels from her home in New York to China to say good-bye to her grandmother who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The story is beautifully told in the film and although it is a sad one there are definitely some laugh-aloud moments as well.  The situation in the film is one that will resonate with many families.

I was particularly drawn to the music in The Farewell and wanted to know more about it so I  listened to a fascinating interview with composer Alex Weston who put together the score for the film. 

The musical piece in the film I particularly liked was a song written by  Leonard Cohen and Patrick Leonard called Come Healing.  The words were so meaningful and in the interview, Alex Weston explains that while the lyrics of the song fit beautifully with what is happening in one of the final scenes of the film, they thought Leonard Cohen’s very deep bass voice might not be the best fit for a story with a young female protagonist.  So they asked Elayna Boynton, an American indie-soul singer to record it. She does a perfect job.  You can hear her singing it here. 

I would definitely recommend seeing The Farewell, both for its plot and its soundtrack. I am including the lyrics for Come Healing a piece of poetry I think I could write a sermon about. 

Come Healing      by Leonard Cohen and Patrick Leonard

O gather up the brokenness
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow

The splinters that you carry
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace

O solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

O see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart

O troubled dust concealing
An undivided love
The heart beneath is teaching
To the broken heart above

Let the heavens falter
Let the earth proclaim
Come healing of the altar
Come healing of the name

O longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O longing of the arteries
To purify the blood

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Other posts……….

That’s How Light Gets In – Hope From Leonard Cohen

Lessons From Leonard

Filial Piety