2025 Life Logs, Day 304: That’s How the Light Gets In
Date: Thursday, October 30, 2025
Weather: Overcast, Windy, Rain Late; High Temp 57, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
In last night’s log, I explained that I hated the sense of hopelessness I feared people who attended the second session of the nonviolence film series felt as they went home last night. I wrote in last night’s log that I would spend today trying to figure out how to avoid that feeling of hopelessness at next week’s screening. I read myself to sleep each night, and last night I started a new book, Civil Resistance by Erica Chenoweth. She started the introduction with a poem (really lyrics from a song) by the late Leonard Cohen from his song “Anthem” off the 1992 album called The Future. The four lines she used really struck me:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
The message, of hope in darkness, is particularly relevant these days. I spent my day today looking for the cracks. Here are the complete lyrics of “Anthem”:
The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be
Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold, and bought again
The dove is never free
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah, and the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see
I can’t run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
A thundercloud
They’re going to hear from me
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
You can add up the parts
But you won’t have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart
To love will come
But like a refugee
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in
