[Intro]
[Female Vocal]
The cup went left, the cup went right,
And the floorboards learned another rite.

[Verse 1]
FRAY-yah stood where the lamplight leaned,
Gold on the table, smoke between.
She knew the stitch in GOOL-vayg's hand,
A VAH-neer knot from a rain-fed land.
Not hammer law, not spear command,
But seed and dream, and salt and sand.
The mead-horn hummed with a hidden tone,
Like bees in the ribs of a buried bone.

[Pre-Chorus]
“Do not mock what you have not named,
Do not cage what you have not tamed.
Magic bends where iron breaks,
And every choice has smaller stakes.”

[Chorus]
SAY-thur in the mead-hall, thread through the flame,
Women remember what warriors shame.
SAY-thur in the mead-hall, gold in the grain,
Power can whisper and still leave a stain.
Turn the cup, tighten the braid,
What you fear is what you made.

[Verse 2]
Thor called it coward’s craft and spit,
Loki laughed, then studied it.
Odin’s eye grew narrow and bright,
A wolf at the edge of a lambing night.
FRAY-yah's falcon feathers stirred,
Though no door moved and no wing was heard.
GOOL-vayg sang with a copper tongue,
And the old hall felt suddenly young.

[Pre-Chorus]
The shields on the wall began to sweat,
The spearheads clicked like teeth in debt.
Every god with a secret name,
Felt it warming beside the flame.

[Chorus]
SAY-thur in the mead-hall, thread through the flame,
Women remember what warriors shame.
SAY-thur in the mead-hall, gold in the grain,
Power can whisper and still leave a stain.
Turn the cup, tighten the braid,
What you fear is what you made.

[Instrumental Break][Hardanger fiddle plays a crooked dance melody over low guitars and hand drums.]

[Bridge]
[Duet]
FRAY-yah said, “This is not yours to burn.
Some doors open, but none return.”
GOOL-vayg answered, “All doors learn,
When gold is patient, kings will turn.”

[Breakdown]
[Harsh Vocal]
No sword. No shield.
No scar the healers sealed.
Just thread. Just breath.
Gold rehearsing death.

[Final Chorus]
SAY-thur in the mead-hall, thread through the flame,
Women remember what warriors shame.
SAY-thur in the mead-hall, gold in the grain,
Power can whisper and still leave a stain.
Turn the cup, tighten the braid,
What you fear is what you made.

[Outro]
The cup went left, the cup went right,
And no god slept clean that night.