[Intro][Soft tagelharpa and acoustic guitar in a slow minor pulse.]

[Soft Female Vocal]
Ashes on the linden shield,
Bread left cooling by the door,
One more name the hall will wield,
One less footstep on the floor.

[Verse 1 - Male Lead Narrator]
He was not old, not yet a lord,
His beard was barely grown,
He kept a ribbon on his sword
From a girl with hands of stone.
His shield was linden, split and charred,
His coat was patched with blue,
He died beside a cattle yard
Where no great banner flew.

[Verse 2 - Female Lead Valkyrie]
I lifted him from trampled rye,
His breath had left no steam,
His left hand clutched a wooden die,
His right hand held a dream.
Below us, by the smoking gate,
A woman called his name,
Her voice struck iron through my plate,
And burned beneath the same.

[Chorus]
Ashes on the linden shield,
Tell me what the songs conceal.
If glory takes the common man,
Who gives the morning back again?
Ashes on the linden shield,
His wound is closed, but mine won’t heal.

[Verse 3 - Male Lead Einherjar]
In Valhalla he was given meat,
A horn and shining mail,
The benches thundered under feet,
The roof rang like a sail.
He smiled because the others smiled,
Then looked beyond the flame,
And asked me, quiet as a child,
“Did someone call my name?”

[Instrumental Break][Acoustic guitar carries the melody while low drums enter slowly.]

[Bridge]
I could not say his wife still stood
With soot across her cheek,
I could not say his little boy
Would search the road for weeks.

[Bridge 2]
I only touched the silver cup,
I only watched him drink;
The hall was loud enough for gods,
But not loud enough to think.

[Final Chorus]
Ashes on the linden shield,
Tell me what the songs conceal.
If glory takes the common man,
Who gives the morning back again?
Ashes on the linden shield,
His wound is closed, but mine won’t heal.

[Soft Female Vocal Coda]
Ashes on the linden shield,
The truth has teeth beneath the steel.

[Outro][Female voice hums the three-note motif without words.]
