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.