By the river’s 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 river’s 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 river’s 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 river’s 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 river’s dark where it all goes on
By the river’s dark in Babylon