When I was quite young I had learned to fear I was taought to listen But not to hear From my mother's arms I was cruelly torn And they whipped my ass On the day I was born Little brother died At the age of five They said, he lost his soul, he was not Baptized But the river flows And the heavens cry And we'll all be drowned In the river, in the river In the river, in the river I remember my sister On her saddest day When the boy she loved Had been called away Seems he gave his life In a foreign land Still my sister cries She never understands Now the world is hard And the cowards lie And the fool loves war And the gentle die But the river flows And the heavens cry And we'll all be drowned In the river, in the river In the river, in the river Well, we built a dam When the first rains fell We built it high And we built it well But the waters rose Like a beast from hell Now my house is gone And the town as well So we gather here For a silent prayer For the lives we lost And the love we shared Still the river flows And the heavens cry And we'll all be found In the river, in the river In the river, in the river