[Intro]
[Instrumental Intro: Tagelharpa repeats the album’s original three-note motif without drums.]

[Verse 1]
Morning lay on MID-gard’s field,
Gold on every mountain shield.
AHS-kur and EM-blah crossed the grass,
Watching cloud and sunlight pass.
VEE-lee laughed to see them run,
VAY named shadows cast by sun.
I alone heard under stone
A measured knock like buried bone.

[Refrain]
What the roots remember, crowns forget.
What the sea has swallowed is breathing yet.
What the dawn makes golden, dusk makes gray;
Every world created has an ending day.
What the roots remember, gods deny—
Nothing born beneath the tree escapes the sky.

[Verse 2]
I placed my ear against the bark,
Its sap ran cold beneath the mark.
Far below, where serpents coiled,
A voice moved upward through the ground.
It spoke with river, frost and flame,
It used no mouth, yet knew my name:
“OH-din, maker, blood-marked one,
Do you believe your work is done?”

[Refrain]
What the roots remember, crowns forget.
What the sea has swallowed is breathing yet.
What the dawn makes golden, dusk makes gray;
Every world created has an ending day.
What the roots remember, gods deny—
Nothing born beneath the tree escapes the sky.

[Verse 3]
I saw a wolf consume the wheel,
I saw the sun lose fire and seal.
I saw the sea cross MID-gard’s wall,
I saw the ash tree shake and fall.
I saw my brothers fade from sight,
I saw red MOOS-pel swallow night.
Beyond the ruin, green land stirred—
Then root and vision lost their word.

[Bridge - Male Vocal: OH-din]
[Bridge Direction: The frame drum returns as EE-meer’s five-beat heart pattern.]

Was it EE-meer under earth,
Counting backward from our birth?
Was it fate within the tree,
Or guilt returning dressed as prophecy?
I could not tell. I only knew
The oldest voice had spoken true.

[Instrumental]
[Instrumental Direction: Clean guitar plays the breath melody from “Ash and Elm” while tagelharpa answers with EE-meer’s inverted motif.]

[Final Refrain]
What the roots remember, crowns forget.
Every unpaid ending becomes a debt.
What the dawn makes golden, flame makes gray;
Every god who authors life must face its final day.
What the roots remember, none can bind—
The first dead giant waits beneath mankind.

[Coda]
AHLT skahl FAHL-lah, root and sky—
Yet after every ending, seas withdraw and green things rise.

[Outro]
I stood beneath the morning crown,
One hand still red, one sunlight-brown.
Above, the first day crossed the land.
Below, five heartbeats struck my hand.

[Epilogue]
Before the first dawn, silence lay.
After the first dawn, debt had a name.
The worlds turned on, alive and bright—
And carried their ending inside their light.