*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 rivers 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.