[Intro]
[Shield strikes answer a jagged guitar riff before the full drums enter.]

[Verse 1]
We found it beneath a collapsed cedar beam,
Red wool burned black at the edge of the seam.
The silver-thread raven had lost half a wing;
The cord had been severed, the pole lacked a ring.
A weaver named Svala knelt down in the snow,
Pulled thread from her sleeve and worked steady and slow.
She stitched through the scorch with a fish-bone pin.
Each pull closed the cloth, though it could not close skin.

[Pre-Chorus]
Not for a kingdom.
Not for a claim.
Raise it for faces.
Raise it for names.

[Chorus]
Raise the Raven Banner over timber and stone,
Torn, burned and beaten, but still it is our own.
Raise the Raven Banner where the last roof stands.
No promise of conquest, just work for living hands.
Let silver wings answer the ash-coloured dawn:
The hall may be broken; the people are not gone.

[Verse 2]
We cut a new pole from a storm-fallen pine,
Bound it with leather and hammered-on iron.
The wounded dug footing beside the north wall;
The children brought pebbles, the smallest of all.
A veteran laughed when the raven caught air:
"It looks like a bird that has lost half its hair."
The laughter came rough, but it loosened the dread.
For one human moment, we stood with our dead.

[Pre-Chorus]
Not for Valhalla.
Not for reward.
Raise it for those who
Can carry no sword.

[Verse 3]
The scouts saw it rise from the far cedar height.
The enemy halted, expecting a fight.
They thought it a challenge, a warlord's command;
They could not have known why we wanted it manned.
Not threat, not dominion, not glory or gain:
One fixed point of shelter in weather and pain.

[Bridge]
A symbol can flatter a throne into law,
But mended cloth showed them the truth that we saw:
We gathered, we counted, we guarded the scar.
The people made kingdom wherever they are.

[Instrumental Break]
[Shield percussion and rhythm guitars alternate two-bar phrases while the rising response motif challenges the usual descending album theme.]

[Breakdown]
Who holds the north wall?
We hold the north wall.
Who guards the grain?
We guard the grain.

Who names the fallen?
We name the fallen.
Who lifts the raven?
We lift it again.

[Final Chorus]
Raise the Raven Banner over timber and stone,
Torn, burned and beaten, but never raised alone.
Raise the Raven Banner while the cold wind commands.
No promise of conquest, just strength in joined hands.
Let silver wings answer the ash-coloured dawn:
The hall may be broken; the people live on.
