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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Leonard Cohen (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. He pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s and did not begin a music career until 1967. His second book of poetry, “The Spice-Box of Earth” was first published in 1961, and contained a poem called “A Kite Is A Victim.” 

A KITE IS A VICTIM

By Leonard Cohen

From: The Spice-Box of Earth

A kite is a victim you are sure of.

You love it because it pulls

gentle enough to call you master,

strong enough to call you fool;

because it lives

like a desperate trained falcon

in the high sweet air,

and you can always haul it down

to tame it in your drawer.

A kite is a fish you have already caught

in a pool where no fish come,

so you play him carefully and long,

and hope he won’t give up,

or the wind die down.

A kite is the last poem you’ve written,

so you give it to the wind,

but you don’t let it go

until someone finds you

something else to do.

A kite is a contract of glory

that must be made with the sun,

so make friends with the field

the river and the wind,

then you pray the whole cold night before,

under the travelling cordless moon,

to make you worthy and lyric and pure.