en route to Montreal, 26 December 1965

Autograph letter to Marianne Ihlen, 26 December 1965. – IHLEN, Marianne (1935-2016). Two letters, one typed and one autograph, to Leonard Cohen, April and c.December 1965.

Cohen's letter: two pages, 177 x 157mm; Ihlen's letters: six pages, 175 x 250 to 212 x 286mm.

Following another quarrel, Cohen sums up his position: "I want to take care of you and I also need you—but I don’t want a contract." As he awaits a flight to Montreal, his emotion comes through: he has added emphasis to several lines—“I hope you’re not keeping anything from me." On the next page, "Are you being straight with me? Don’t you have any smiles left, or have I used up my share?”

He closes, “I think you should come to Montreal. I’m tired of figuring out new things. I’m tired of running. I’ve been humbled. I want to join the world. I want to take care of you and I also need you—but I don’t want a contract. Is there any fire left?”

This letter is joined by two important letters from Marianne that reveal her side of the conversation and underscore the impasse at which they keep finding themselves. In one she responds directly to Leonard's letter, commenting that she already had plans for London, "So, I am not going to Montreal to share your bed." On the next page, "I don't want any contract with you either. What makes fire? I am burning up, what about you?" The other precedes Leonard's, dated April 1965 from Hydra. What begins as a letter to herself becomes a letter to him—she discusses their relationship thoughtfully and at length, closing: "I want to be of support and joy to you, and if I cannot be that... I also will end up not believing in us, and what we are doing. Am I asking for miracles? No, I am not, just your hand to throw away this unnecessary stone in my heart. Let us walk hand in hand, when we are together, it can never hurt... I love you always."

By descent from Marianne Ihlen.