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