[Intro]
[Frame drum, bowed lyre and an incomplete three-note motif repeat in an uneven five-beat cycle.]

[Verse 1]
The shrine stood north where the dark firs grew,
Its doorway narrow, its roof weighted blue.
Old offerings mouldered in bowls by the wall;
No fox had disturbed them, no bird gave a call.
We carried in barley, the last of our store,
And laid down a sword on the frost-hardened floor.
The priest cut his palm; three red drops fell.
He named every god. The silence held.

[Pre-Chorus]
No hoofbeat in thunder.
No spark in the stone.
The smoke climbed the rafters
And vanished alone.

[Chorus]
When the Gods Fell Silent, we heard the timber groan.
No hammer split the heavens, no hand moved the stone.
When the Gods Fell Silent, our answered prayer was breath.
The living chose each other in the doorway of death.
No shield came from heaven, no bright bridge was shown.
We stood in the silence and made it our own.

[Verse 2]
The priest spoke louder, his face turning grey.
He promised more cattle we did not have to pay.
A runner burst in with blood in his hair:
"The south wall is burning. Their ladders are there."
We looked once at altar, barley and blade.
No sign marked the offering. No bargain was made.

[Verse 3]
The hall roof had caught in the dry thatching lay;
Men bore out the wounded through smoke into day.
The banner still snapped from the pole by the gate
While arrows came over in clusters of eight.
The priest reached the yard, still clutching his charm,
Then fell with a black-feathered shaft through his arm.
He cried to the heavens, then cried out my name.
I dragged him through embers and out of the flame.

[Bridge]
"What sin made the high ones depart?"
I pressed cloth to iron lodged under his heart.
"No sin. No god chose which children should fall."
He died with his charm closed tight in his palm.

[Climax]
The ladders struck timber.
The south gate gave way.
Twelve horns rolled in embers.
We carried what lived.

[Guitar Solo]
[The lead guitar completes the previously unfinished three-note motif, then develops it over shifting 5/4 and 4/4 rhythms.]

[Final Chorus]
When the Gods Fell Silent, the final roof came down.
No hand reached through heaven to lift the burning crown.
When the Gods Fell Silent, we answered breath with breath.
The living bore the living through the doorway of death.
No rescue descended, no bright bridge was shown.
We stood in the silence, no longer alone.
