[Intro]
Smoke held low where the benches shone,
Gold looked sick on the grieving stone.
No harp rose from the elder wall,
Only ash in the mouth of the hall.

[Verse 1]
They poured black mead for Balder's name,
But every cup kept a rim of blame.
Odin sat with one eye sealed,
Thor hid cuts no wine could heal.
Frigg's white cloth clenched in her hand,
Tyr watched knives beside the brand.
Oath-rings bit through lordly skin,
Every smile had rot within.

[Pre-Chorus]
Then the door groaned wide in iron weather,
Boots on ash and raven feather.
No horn called out, no guard drew near,
Only Loki with a grin like spears.

[Chorus]
In the mead hall after Balder,
Every crown began to falter.
Name by name and lie by lie,
Loki laughed where gods deny.
In the mead hall after Balder,
Truth came dressed as slaughter.

[Verse 2]
He raised no blade, he spilled no wine,
He scratched their fault-lines into pine.
"Who aimed the twig? Who turned away?
Who taught a blind god how to slay?"
Rafters sweated salted heat,
Frost crawled pale beneath his feet.
The feast became a court of bone,
Each high throne sat less alone.

[Chorus]
In the mead hall after Balder,
Every crown began to falter.
Name by name and lie by lie,
Loki laughed where gods deny.
In the mead hall after Balder,
Truth came dressed as slaughter.

[Instrumental Break][Tremolo guitars cut over tom-heavy drums while tagelharpa repeats the stone-bowl motif.]

[Bridge]
He did not kneel for kin or sky,
He did not beg the dead to rise.
He dragged the hidden rot to light,
And let the winter enter in.

[Breakdown]
Stone cups shook.
Oath-rings split.
Ash on tongues.
Venom in the pit.

[Final Chorus]
In the mead hall after Balder,
Every crown began to falter.
Name by name and lie by lie,
Loki laughed where gods deny.
In the mead hall after Balder,
Summer bent toward slaughter.

[Outro]
Far below that golden floor,
A wolf began to pace once more.