Read Leonard Cohen’s Heartbreaking Last Letter to His Muse

Image by YouTube

By Thea Glassman November 11, 2016

Shortly after Leonard Cohen passed away last night, a heartbreaking letter penned by the singer began circulating around the internet.

The note was written to Marianne Ihlen, Cohen’s ex-girlfriend and the inspiration for his song “So Long Marianne,” who passed away from leukemia this past July.

It read:

Leonard Cohen’s recent letter to his dying muse, Marianne Ihlen, takes on a new poignancy with the sad news of his death. pic.twitter.com/dkRz8U4x3M

— Letters of Note (@LettersOfNote) November 11, 2016

The letter reached Ihlen the day before she died, and had a powerful impact on her.

“It gave her deep peace of mind that you knew her condition. And your blessing for the journey gave her extra strength,” her friend Jan Christian Mollestad wrote in a note back to the singer (pictured below).

And here is the beautiful reply sent to Leonard Cohen. pic.twitter.com/2AwRGwZQLe

— Letters of Note (@LettersOfNote) November 11, 2016

Cohen and Ihlen met in 1960 on the Greek island of Hydra, and the two lived together for much of the 1960’s.

When they broke up, Cohen said they both accepted it as the inevitable.

“Those relationships that were formed idealistically or sexually or romantically couldn’t survive the challenges that ordinary lives would confront them with,” Cohen told Norwegian Radio in 2005. “So none of those relationships survived, except in the sense that we honor them, and we recognize the nourishment of those experiences.”

Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.

Thea Glassman was an associate editor for the Forward. Follow her on twitter @theakglassman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO