[Intro]
[Drum Break]
Hooves on root, hooves on bone,
Down where the buried rivers moan.

[Verse 1]
[Male Vocal]
I rode from ash where the ravens nest,
Grief like iron beneath my vest.
Sleipnir's breath was a cloud of iron,
Eight hooves beating for Balder dead.
The world above became a thread,
The road below belonged to the dead.

[Pre-Chorus]
[Male Vocal]
No sun, no star, no father's eye,
Only the hoofbeat asking why.
No feast, no horn, no golden dome,
Only one prayer: bring Balder home.

[Chorus]
[Duet]
The road below the roots runs cold,
Deep under ash, deep under gold.
The road below the roots runs long,
Past every name, past every song.
I ride for the light no grave should own,
I ride through the dark to bring him home.

[Verse 2]
[Male Vocal]
The bridge to Hel rang thin and blue,
Its watcher asked what the living knew.
I showed no sword, I spoke no boast,
Only the name we needed most.
"Let me pass through the iron rain,
Let one dead sun rise back again."

[Pre-Chorus]
[Male Vocal]
The river below had teeth of ice,
The cold took blood as a crossing price.
Still every hoof struck grief from stone,
Still I rode on for Balder alone.

[Chorus]
[Duet]
The road below the roots runs cold,
Deep under ash, deep under gold.
The road below the roots runs long,
Past every name, past every song.
I ride for the light no grave should own,
I ride through the dark to bring him home.

[Instrumental Break]
[Low guitar ostinato follows hoofbeat toms while bowed lyre cuts short phrases.]

[Bridge]
[Male Vocal]
If love can ride where law has gone,
If grief can bargain before the dawn,
If one voice bends the iron throne,
Then death may loosen what death has known.

[Build-up]
[Male Vocal]
Gate of Hel, hear my plea,
Cold queen, look on me.
Not for glory, not for throne,
Only for a brother home.

[Final Chorus]
[Duet]
The road below the roots runs cold,
Deep under ash, deep under gold.
The road below the roots runs long,
Past every name, past every song.
The road below the roots still calls,
Where even a god's bright footstep falls.

[Outro]
[Hoofbeat drums slow into silence.]
Hooves on root, hooves on bone,
One living rider before Hel's throne.
