By the Rivers Dark

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, â??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. --- By the Rivers Dark - Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson