[Intro]
[Fingerpicked guitar circles three quiet notes while a small flame crackles in open snow.]

[Verse 1]
I brought dry birch inside my coat,
You brought the cord from father’s boat.
We built a flame no higher than
The hollow of a mittened hand.
Your hair held frost, your fingers shook;
You would not meet my waiting look.
Above the ridge, the red lights grew,
And painted all the snow like rue.

[Chorus]
Keep the oath-fire in the snow,
Small enough the wind may know.
Guard my name when embers dim;
I will carry yours with him.
Though no spring and no hearth glow,
Keep our oath-fire in the snow.

[Verse 2]
You said, “Your shield cannot defend
The roof, the field, the world’s own end.
Lay down the axe. Unlace your mail.
We still may take the southern trail.”
I heard the hope behind your plea,
A little boat on a black sea.
I wished that I could call it true,
Then placed my weathered hand in you.

[Chorus]
Keep the oath-fire in the snow,
Small enough the wind may know.
Guard my name when embers dim;
I will carry yours with him.
Though no spring and no hearth glow,
Keep our oath-fire in the snow.

[Verse 3]
You tied red wool around my wrist,
Then pressed your mouth against my fist.
“No skald may live to carve your deed.
No child may read the final bead.
So speak your name before you go;
I’ll give it back into the snow.”
I spoke it once. You spoke it twice.
The flame threw gold across the ice.

[Bridge]
I cannot promise I return.
You cannot promise this will burn.
But vows are not a bargain made
To purchase dawn or blunt a blade.
An oath is what two people keep
When gods themselves are buried deep.

[Instrumental Break]
[Bowed lyre carries the vocal melody while the frame drum follows a slow heartbeat.]

[Final Chorus]
Keep the oath-fire in the snow,
Feed it when the north winds blow.
Guard my name when embers dim;
I will bear yours past the rim.
When ash descends and red lights go,
Keep one coal beneath the snow.
Though fate takes all that gods may know,
Love once warmed this oath-fire in the snow.

[Outro]
At dawn you stood beside the flame.
My footsteps narrowed toward the plain.
You cupped one coal against the cold
And whispered both the names we told.