Lyrics By the Rivers Dark - Leonard Cohen

By the rivers dark
I wandered on
I lived my life
In Babylon

And I did forget
My holy song
And I had no strength
In Babylon

By the rivers dark
Where I could not see
Who was waiting there
Who was hunting me

And he cut my lip
And he cut my heart
So I could not drink
From the river dark

And he covered me
And I saw within
My lawless heart
And my wedding ring

I did not know
And I could not see
Who was waiting there
Who was hunting me

By the rivers dark
I panicked on
I belonged at last
To Babylon

Then he struck my heart
With a deadly force
And he said: "This heart
It is not yours!"

And he gave the wind
My wedding ring
And he circled us
With everything

By the rivers dark
In a wounded dawn
I live my life
In Babylon

Though I take my song
From a withered limb
Both song and tree
They sing for him

Be the truth unsaid
And the blessing gone
If I forget
My Babylon
I did not know
And I could not see
Who was waiting there
Who was hunting me
By the rivers dark
Where it all goes on
By the rivers dark
In Babylon