Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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#LeonardCohen #BytheRiversDark #TenNewSongs
Leonard Cohen – By the Rivers Dark (Official Audio)

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Lyrics:
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