And all this time the river flowed
In the falling light of a northern sun
If I had my way I'd take a boat from the river
Men go crazy in congregations
But they only get better
One by one
One by one...

Y todo este tiempo el río fluía
En la luz que cae de un sol del norte
Si por mí fuera me gustaría tomar un barco del río
Los hombres se vuelven locos en congregaciones
Pero sólo mejoran
Uno a uno
Uno a uno...

Video de la canción (más digerible que la historia y en el que solo han sobrevivido los dos curillas y el río)

All this time Sting

Algunas explicaciones del propio Sting ....

The lyrics provide a reference to the death of Sting's father, symbolized by the image of a young boy, Billy, who, at the death of his father, wishes to bury him at sea instead of going through the Catholic rites:

"Two priests are at Billy's father's deathbed - he's been injured in a shipyard accident - and Billy doesn't want the ritual that's being served up, he wants to take his father and bury him at sea."
—Sting, Q, 2/91

Despite the dark lyrics, the uptempo tune of the song foils their macabre undertone:

"It's about the death of my father, so it's pretty dark as a record but on this song the words are foiled by this fairly jolly tune. That's something I like to do quite a lot, combine dark subject matter with up music. No, it's not based on a dream. The lyrics seem surreal, but they are all images I remembered from my home town: ferries, priests, shire horses. I grew up by the shipyards. I just wanted to escape. I suppose it was quite a surreal place, though. It is the landscape of my dreams"
—Sting, Independent On Sunday, 11/94

The imaginary character, Billy, is also referred to in the lyrics to the song "Island Of Souls" from The Soul Cages album.