[Intro][Stomping hall rhythm with low gang hums.]

[Verse 1 - Male Lead Narrator]
The benches shook, the torches spat,
A hundred knives struck plates.
Men told jokes of where they sat,
Then forgot their children’s dates.
One knew the sound of his mother’s loom,
But not her aging face.
One smelled rain in a bridal room,
Then lost the road to that place.

[Pre-Chorus]
The horn went round, the memory thinned,
Mead on the mouth, iron within.

[Chorus]
At the feast of broken names, we drink and cheer,
But the old world fades when the dawn draws near.
At the feast of broken names, we laugh and bleed,
Gold in the cup, but a chain in the mead.
Who were we before the shields were claimed?
We are full of song and broken names.

[Verse 2 - Female Lead Valkyrie]
The young Valkyrie moved through the smoke,
Past ribs that healed too clean,
A farmer touched the cup and spoke,
“I had a field of green.”
A sailor said, “My daughter wore
A shell behind one ear.”
Then drums began beyond the door,
And memory bowed to fear.

[Pre-Chorus]
The horn went round, the memory thinned,
Mead on the mouth, iron within.

[Chorus]
At the feast of broken names, we drink and cheer,
But the old world fades when the dawn draws near.
At the feast of broken names, we laugh and bleed,
Gold in the cup, but a chain in the mead.
Who were we before the shields were claimed?
We are full of song and broken names.

[Instrumental Break][Hand drums and tagelharpa carry a mournful feast melody.]

[Male/Female Duet]
She whispered one name into one dead ear,
It struck like a bell and brought him near.
He saw the cattle, the gate, the rain,
Then bit his lip against the pain.

[Female Lead Response]
“Tell them,” he said, “we are not free.”
She answered, “First, I must learn to be.”

[Final Chorus]
At the feast of broken names, we drink and cheer,
But the old world fades when the dawn draws near.
At the feast of broken names, we laugh and bleed,
Gold in the cup, but a chain in the mead.
Who were we before the shields were claimed?
We are full of song and broken names.

[Gang Vocals Coda]
Remember the river, remember the flame,
Break the cup before it breaks your name.

[Outro][Gang vocals repeat “broken names” under fading hand drums.]