[Intro][Black water, shore birds and fingerpicked twelve-string guitar introduce the rising three-note motif.]

[Verse 1: Narrator, low male baritone]
Black water carried a copper dawn,
Ash rode the tide where the halls were gone.
Seaweed curled through a splintered shield,
Rain stitched green on the fire-scarred field.
Vee-tharr stood where the surf withdrew,
Salt on his boots, first grass in view.
No raven watched from the broken mast,
Only clean wihnd where the smoke had passed.

[Pre-Chorus: Narrator, rising intensity]
We counted the dead in marks of clay,
Then moss took every mark away.
The sea gave back what flame denied,
A breathing shore on the blackened tide.

[Chorus: Survivors, mixed ensemble, wide unison]
Green Earth After Fire, green under rain,
Carry our names, but refuse our chain.
Green Earth After Fire, root through the pyre,
Drink from the flood and outliv the fire.
No throne on the hill, no oath in the mire—
What will we build on Green Earth After Fire?

[Verse 2: Narrator, low male baritone]
A fox left prints by a fallen spear,
A calf drank freely, no herder near.
Birches rose where no seed was thrown,
White as bone, yet alive and grown.
Vah-lee knelt by a roofless gate,
Touched the hinge that had carried fate.
Cold iron slept; warm nettles swarmed,
Small green hands klozed over the storm.

[Pre-Chorus: Narrator, rising intensity]
We knew how to conquer, avenge and command,
But none of those arts could awaken the land.
The river ran clear through a dragon's jaw,
Unruled by hammer, crown or law.

[Chorus: Survivors, mixed ensemble, wide unison]
Green Earth After Fire, green under rain,
Carry our names, but refuse our chain.
Green Earth After Fire, root through the pyre,
Drink from the flood and outliv the fire.
No throne on the hill, no oath in the mire—
What will we build on Green Earth After Fire?

[Instrumental Break][Tagelharpa and wooden flute trade the rising motif while low guitars enter beneath rolling floor toms.]

[Bridge: Narrator, intimate then building]
The old world ended with iron in hand,
Each god defending a border of sand.
No one-eyed father now showed us the way—
The silence was freedom, and sharpened the day.

[Build-up][The acoustic pattern doubles in speed as the full band gathers around the motif.]

[Final Chorus: Survivors, mixed ensemble, full power]
Green Earth After Fire, green under rain,
Remember our names, but refuse our chain.
Green Earth After Fire, rise through the pyre,
Make room for mercy where vengeance would tire.
No throne on the hill, no god to require—
We choose what comes after Green Earth After Fire.

[Outro: Narrator, low male baritone]
Black water behind us,
Green earth ahead.
The living are listening
To what we leave unsaid.