You Have Loved Enough

Leonard Cohen · Complete Studio Albums Collection [2011]

I said I'd be your lover.

You laughed at what I said.

I lost my job forever.

I was counted with the dead.

I swept the marble chambers,

But you sent me down below.

You kept me from believing

Until you let me know:

That I am not the one who loves -

It's love that seizes me.

When hatred with his package comes,

You forbid delivery.

And when the hunger for your touch

Rises from the hunger,

You whisper, "You have loved enough,

Now let me be the Lover."

I swept the marble chambers,

But you sent me down below.

You kept me from believing

Until you let me know:

That I am not the one who loves -

It's love that chooses me.

When hatred with his package comes,

You forbid delivery.

And when the hunger for your touch...

You Have Loved Enough

Leonard Cohen's 'You Have Loved Enough' stands as a poignant meditation on the limits of human capacity to love, delivered with his signature gravelly baritone and minimalist piano accompaniment. Recorded for the 2011 compilation of his complete studio albums, the track exemplifies Cohen's late-career refinement, blending spiritual introspection with a stark, unadorned musical texture. The song reflects his enduring exploration of faith, mortality, and the paradoxical nature of devotion, characteristic of his work from the 1980s through the 2010s. By stripping away excess, Cohen forces the listener to confront the raw emotional weight of the lyrics, creating a timeless recording that remains central to his legacy as a poet-prophet of the modern era.