By The Rivers Dark Lyrics - Ten New Songs - 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, 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.