I am not familiar with posting on blogs, so bear with me ! I just wrote you a long story about Daphne and then was unable to post it, so I will keep thsi short and carry on if successful
Ok I'll try again. I was living in London in 1971 and had some friends who shared a house with Daphne. We visited her several times. Daphne was 32 at the time, I was 17. She was a free lance journalist and very excited about two upcoming interviews with Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. She had corresponded with both for years, and isolised their music and philosophy of life
When I saw Daphne next, she was very upset to say the least. She had had her interview with Leonard Cohen, and he had told her he only wrote his religious lyrics for the commercial success this brought him. She was devastated by this, and in hindsight I realise she was probably having a nervous breakdown or something. She just sat and cried and wailed and ranted, and told my friends to leave on by one till only I was left. I just sat there and listened, didn't know what else to do and of course was out of my depth. She was having whole conversations with Leonard Cohen. She showed me the inscription he had written on her copy of his book "Beautiful Losers". Underneath she had scrawled in big letters: "NO LEONARD, YOU ARE NOT'. She kept calling out for some guy "Gary Gary, where are you" After a while she quite kindly asked me to leave too, and I never saw her again. I heard from my friends that a few days later Daphne attacked a church altar and was taken to a mental hospital. My friends had some belongings in her flat, and because they were worried they might not get them back, they broke in to retrieve them. I went in with them and looked through a photo album while I waited. (My friends took only what was theirs). The album had the most amazing photo's with beautiful captions, and I can still see some of them in my mind, and the impact they had on me. A few days later her family emptied out her flat. A few years later I came across Leonard Cohen's album, and realised Daphne was dead. A few years ago I tracked down Daphne's boyfriend Gary via the internet, and we corresponded for a while. The photo's were his, and he still regrets having lost them. He is American, and was in London at the time to avoid US draft. It is interesting to read Cohen's comment in the ZigZag article about his name being mentioned in Daphne's suicide note. She had idolised him for years and he turned out to be a fraud, by his own admission. Daphne made a big impression on me at the time, which is not surprising given the circumstances, and the abject despair and pain she was feeling.
I have also read your profile with interest, and have similar interests myself. I do also like Leonard Cohen's songs very much, though now listen to him with mixed feelings, as you can imagine. Daphne in that last meeting talked at length about Bob Dylan's album 'another side of bob dylan', she particularly loved the song Chimes of freedom, do you know it? Hope this was of interest to you! :-))
Well it certainly has been a most interesting read! I'm quite amazed in fact by the suddenness of all this.. You leaving me the message and setting up this blog etc. etc.
My curiosity was focussed rather more on Daphne's writings rather than her as a person. But thank you nonetheless, this has definitely been very interesting!
How very kind of you to share it with me! And how strange are the twists of fate!
I must admit I am curious, When did you come across my blog.. and What made you choose to tell me all this?
I shared this story with my daughter (21), who was also fascinated by it, and wrote a short story about it for a uni assignment a few years ago. I was visiting her in Sydney over Christmas (I live in Perth, Aust.), and we happened to be talking about it. She had been googling Leonard Cohen and Daphne Richardson, and had come upon your entry. When I got back to Perth I looked you up, and decided to tell you, because my daughter was so fascinated by it, and you're the same age. I like sharing info, so there you go. :-))
This is really surprising...notes on this mysterious woman from way back. Im a manic depressive (officially) who had a deeply mystical experience which has been described so perfectly by this poem stuck to LC's album cover. My experience lasted 3 months, it took that long for the union to take place. The before and after was and is a place of confusion, bewilderment and despair.
St. Paul was blessed with the instruction of a guide after his experience but me being not so placed in the kingdom of heaven I was certainly swept clean after the experience but completely disoriented and may God have mercy on me also penetrated again be desolate thoughts and temptations of the heart.
I have since wondered in the desert of my contexts, experienced moments of pure ecstatic union, protecting windy wings of angelic powers, viewed the luciferous motions of the observing and questioning clouds, heard thunderous voices proclaiming judgement on my heart and soul's desolate desires endured endless seasons of defeaning absence and silence dark currents of impetuous defiance Job's judgement on the hinterland of my devotion.
Modern psychiatric therapy is completely unwilling to discuss the realities of these experiences even in the context of closed and anonymous chambers. It is considered purely as mental illness. I recently came across a quote from C J Jung who said that we can only understand ourselves in the context of our innermost happenings.
Why is it that my innermost happenings are to be denied or ignored or dismissed as non evidence? No wonder and how sad that Daphne Richardson in despair successfully ended her own life! I see her suffering as my suffering.
I guess in ancient times i wouldve been been described as having a devil. Posession is an ancient term no longer considered a worthy diagnosis or explanation in our modern scientific age.
But if this experience, the Union, being not just a temporal experience but a permanent Union or revealed Union, was unsuccessful in convincing me both of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of Repentance because since I am unable to show any real works of good faith, then no wonder that I am still bewildered, confused and even tormented by the desires of my vicefull heart.
And yet i feel the presence of that spirit within me still. Sometimes working with me sometimes against me. But it has a MIND seperate and yet in Union with mine. A constant reminder of the inner happenings of my presence.
In the context of psychiatry or psychoanalysis i have yet to meet a therapist who aknowledges my witness. I am just deludedly psychotic. No wonder I have drowned in my temptations the world is an enemy of such revelation and my greatest failure has been to let the world slowly persuade me of my own irrelevance. But i have let that happen. Jesus fulfilled himself alone against the world. I have failed and betrayed his heavenly achievement. That actually is my greatest sin.
But then i come across Daphne Richardson and realise I have never been alone. But there have been many an earthly blind guide...
Excuses perhaps. Oh How i wish for a partner in my crime one who understands my origins who inspires me to widen the borders of my faith who leads me out of the hinterland of my devotion. And yet I have it all there just waiting for me...the reaveld or even gifted holy Spirit within me...would she not respond to a cry of mine? not as promised teach me in all I must learn?
Yes...but i have let my foot slip again, weakly falling into blasphemies and hopeless desires the world a mirror of my own vanity and apostasy. Oh shame i cry! Oh shame i cry! Another has fallen on the path to the gate by the narrow way! Oh shame i weep! Oh desolation i mourn!
The second death claims another victim! The resurrection is abolished in me! Oh where was my Mother in my time of strife? She it was who pronounced my desolation! She it was who refused me comfort and guidance! She it was that declined me an exorcism! But did she know my aleady decided fate? Did she know of my turning away? Does she no longer cast out the evil spirit? Or does she know only in this age to cast out the man and not the evil spirit with in him?
And what is this MIND with in me? Even after their judgement that Easter, their abomination of the Voice that spoke amidst the congregation. ..that MIND has never left me! My isolation among the tombs is observed still by the glory of that presence within me.
Hail Great King! His faithfulness is unbreakable his promise not a lie! How great is the promise of God of Abraham.
Oh what darkness there is about and because of me!
What have I laid down and what is to be my recompense? A tree is all of the end. A bare strong branch waiting for the noose?
A lynching. In the presence of the Throne and those that stand about and before it! Clothed in white are those that have entered by the narrow gate to gain a place about the throne.
A voice crying in the wilderness! And this one has a Devil. But who is to speak to this generation that despise God, except a Devil that aknowledges him from out of the tombs!
Who is to turn the rumblings of great beast to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? The singularity approaches, the quickening accelerates!
Turn our hearts great King or they shall all suffer the fate you have prepared for me!
16 comments:
Did you really? This is very curious indeed!
Well, I have replied! So, do tell...
I am not familiar with posting on blogs, so bear with me ! I just wrote you a long story about Daphne and then was unable to post it, so I will keep thsi short and carry on if successful
Ok I'll try again. I was living in London in 1971 and had some friends who shared a house with Daphne. We visited her several times. Daphne was 32 at the time, I was 17. She was a free lance journalist and very excited about two upcoming interviews with Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. She had corresponded with both for years, and isolised their music and philosophy of life
When I saw Daphne next, she was very upset to say the least. She had had her interview with Leonard Cohen, and he had told her he only wrote his religious lyrics for the commercial success this brought him. She was devastated by this, and in hindsight I realise she was probably having a nervous breakdown or something. She just sat and cried and wailed and ranted, and told my friends to leave on by one till only I was left. I just sat there and listened, didn't know what else to do and of course was out of my depth. She was having whole conversations with Leonard Cohen. She showed me the inscription he had written on her copy of his book "Beautiful Losers". Underneath she had scrawled in big letters: "NO LEONARD, YOU ARE NOT'. She kept calling out for some guy "Gary Gary, where are you" After a while she quite kindly asked me to leave too, and I never saw her again. I heard from my friends that a few days later Daphne attacked a church altar and was taken to a mental hospital. My friends had some belongings in her flat, and because they were worried they might not get them back, they broke in to retrieve them. I went in with them and looked through a photo album while I waited. (My friends took only what was theirs). The album had the most amazing photo's with beautiful captions, and I can still see some of them in my mind, and the impact they had on me. A few days later her family emptied out her flat. A few years later I came across Leonard Cohen's album, and realised Daphne was dead.
A few years ago I tracked down Daphne's boyfriend Gary via the internet, and we corresponded for a while. The photo's were his, and he still regrets having lost them. He is American, and was in London at the time to avoid US draft.
It is interesting to read Cohen's comment in the ZigZag article about his name being mentioned in Daphne's suicide note. She had idolised him for years and he turned out to be a fraud, by his own admission.
Daphne made a big impression on me at the time, which is not surprising given the circumstances, and the abject despair and pain she was feeling.
I have also read your profile with interest, and have similar interests myself. I do also like Leonard Cohen's songs very much, though now listen to him with mixed feelings, as you can imagine. Daphne in that last meeting talked at length about Bob Dylan's album 'another side of bob dylan', she particularly loved the song Chimes of freedom, do you know it?
Hope this was of interest to you! :-))
Well it certainly has been a most interesting read! I'm quite amazed in fact by the suddenness of all this.. You leaving me the message and setting up this blog etc. etc.
My curiosity was focussed rather more on Daphne's writings rather than her as a person. But thank you nonetheless, this has definitely been very interesting!
How very kind of you to share it with me! And how strange are the twists of fate!
I must admit I am curious, When did you come across my blog.. and What made you choose to tell me all this?
I shared this story with my daughter (21), who was also fascinated by it, and wrote a short story about it for a uni assignment a few years ago. I was visiting her in Sydney over Christmas (I live in Perth, Aust.), and we happened to be talking about it. She had been googling Leonard Cohen and Daphne Richardson, and had come upon your entry. When I got back to Perth I looked you up, and decided to tell you, because my daughter was so fascinated by it, and you're the same age.
I like sharing info, so there you go. :-))
This is really surprising...notes on this mysterious woman from way back.
Im a manic depressive (officially) who had a deeply mystical experience which has been described so perfectly by this poem stuck to LC's album cover. My experience lasted 3 months, it took that long for the union to take place. The before and after was and is a place of confusion, bewilderment and despair.
St. Paul was blessed with the instruction of a guide after his experience but me being not so placed in the kingdom of heaven I was certainly swept clean after the experience but completely disoriented and may God have mercy on me also penetrated again be desolate thoughts and temptations of the heart.
I have since wondered in the desert of my contexts, experienced moments of pure ecstatic union, protecting windy wings of angelic powers, viewed the luciferous motions of the observing and questioning clouds, heard thunderous voices proclaiming judgement on my heart and soul's desolate desires endured endless seasons of defeaning absence and silence dark currents of impetuous defiance Job's judgement on the hinterland of my devotion.
Modern psychiatric therapy is completely unwilling to discuss the realities of these experiences even in the context of closed and anonymous chambers. It is considered purely as mental illness. I recently came across a quote from C J Jung who said that we can only understand ourselves in the context of our innermost happenings.
Why is it that my innermost happenings are to be denied or ignored or dismissed as non evidence? No wonder and how sad that Daphne Richardson in despair successfully ended her own life! I see her suffering as my suffering.
I guess in ancient times i wouldve been been described as having a devil. Posession is an ancient term no longer considered a worthy diagnosis or explanation in our modern scientific age.
But if this experience, the Union, being not just a temporal experience but a permanent Union or revealed Union, was unsuccessful in convincing me both of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of Repentance because since I am unable to show any real works of good faith, then no wonder that I am still bewildered, confused and even tormented by the desires of my vicefull heart.
And yet i feel the presence of that spirit within me still. Sometimes working with me sometimes against me. But it has a MIND seperate and yet in Union with mine. A constant reminder of the inner happenings of my presence.
In the context of psychiatry or psychoanalysis i have yet to meet a therapist who aknowledges my witness. I am just deludedly psychotic. No wonder I have drowned in my temptations the world is an enemy of such revelation and my greatest failure has been to let the world slowly persuade me of my own irrelevance. But i have let that happen. Jesus fulfilled himself alone against the world. I have failed and betrayed his heavenly achievement. That actually is my greatest sin.
But then i come across Daphne Richardson and realise I have never been alone. But there have been many an earthly blind guide...
Excuses perhaps. Oh How i wish for a partner in my crime one who understands my origins who inspires me to widen the borders of my faith who leads me out of the hinterland of my devotion. And yet I have it all there just waiting for me...the reaveld or even gifted holy Spirit within me...would she not respond to a cry of mine? not as promised teach me in all I must learn?
Yes...but i have let my foot slip again, weakly falling into blasphemies and hopeless desires the world a mirror of my own vanity and apostasy. Oh shame i cry! Oh shame i cry! Another has fallen on the path to the gate by the narrow way! Oh shame i weep! Oh desolation i mourn!
The second death claims another victim! The resurrection is abolished in me!
Oh where was my Mother in my time of strife? She it was who pronounced my desolation! She it was who refused me comfort and guidance! She it was that declined me an exorcism!
But did she know my aleady decided fate? Did she know of my turning away? Does she no longer cast out the evil spirit? Or does she know only in this age to cast out the man and not the evil spirit with in him?
And what is this MIND with in me? Even after their judgement that Easter, their abomination of the Voice that spoke amidst the congregation. ..that MIND has never left me! My isolation among the tombs is observed still by the glory of that presence within me.
Hail Great King! His faithfulness is unbreakable his promise not a lie! How great is the promise of God of Abraham.
Oh what darkness there is about and because of me!
What have I laid down and what is to be my recompense? A tree is all of the end. A bare strong branch waiting for the noose?
A lynching. In the presence of the Throne and those that stand about and before it! Clothed in white are those that have entered by the narrow gate to gain a place about the throne.
A voice crying in the wilderness! And this one has a Devil. But who is to speak to this generation that despise God, except a Devil that aknowledges him from out of the tombs!
Who is to turn the rumblings of great beast to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? The singularity approaches, the quickening accelerates!
Turn our hearts great King or they shall all suffer the fate you have prepared for me!
But..remember my heart! The Angel says, "Surely, I come quickly!"
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