There’s a lot being read into this song that might be missing the mark. The lyrics suggest a much more simple drama is playing out.

The narrator seems to be in the midst of a overblown breakup with his love. He retreats to the eponymous river, inviting his girl to meet him there with every intention of taking his own life (apparently by letting the river drown him, implied by the lyrics “the stars fill the river/ as it flows into the sky”).

In Christianity, suicide is considered an major sin. The narrator has not yet done what will make him unforgivable but is preparing himself for the possibility that his girl, who is clearly alive, will not reconcile with him. Why, for instance, would he wait for her at all, or try to change her mind, if he had killed her. The more likely scenario is that he is being overly dramatic, and this is the song of a young fool who argued with his girlfriend, said things he regrets (“baby, I didn’t mean the things I said, I don’t honestly wish you were dead”), and is now contemplating suicide as a remedy for his heartache.