By The Rivers Dark / 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 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.
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.
這首詩充滿悲傷與憎恨,但Cohen給了它另一層意涵,善惡不再如古老的敵意那般分明,
愛與恨,傷與癒合,對神意的堅信和無力感:
祂切了我的唇、我的心,
我因而不能從黑暗的河流中飲水。
祂庇護我,我從中看見
我無法可束的心,以及婚戒。
祂以致命的力量刺穿我的心,祂說,
這顆心並不屬於你自己。
然後祂給了風我的婚戒,
祂以一切環繞我們。
Cohen連結宗教的歌詞裡總是有一種奇異的投射,首先,他詞裡的神總是舊約耶和華的暴君形象;再者,明明說的是神,卻讓你最終理解到那其實關於愛情。
是愛情,是慾望,也是宗教施加於人的力量,不衝突,也不褻瀆。
(另,wedding ring有個脈絡,傳統猶太婚禮上,新郎要在婚禮最末說一段這首聖詩)
姊姊很喜歡這首歌,猶太人的流亡悲歌被她投射在原住民的處境上。
何嘗不是呢?
在黑暗的河流旁,故土成異鄉,族人們在自己的土地上流亡,敵人要他們歌舞取悅嘉賓。
Cohen唱了更多對Babylon曖昧朦朧的言詞。
是恨也是愛,殘酷與不安裡雜揉引起內在衝突的慾望。
古老的聖詩不會這麼告訴我們,但人心的真相確實如此--
那一切都並非絕對。
我想他是這麼思索過這個西元前的故事。猶太詩人會不會愛上巴比倫女子?你怎知不會呢?
愛情是不是信仰的一個部分?
一次一次說過誓詞,證明的究竟是人信念的堅定,還是軟弱?
或者恨,該要如此寫下以便不忘。
彷彿忘了,你便不再是你。
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