[Intro]
[Eight muted floor-tom hoofbeats circle beneath low horn and bowed-lyre phrases.]

[Verse 1]
Huginn came limping with soot on his wing,
Muninn brought silence, remembering nothing.
They settled together on Sleipnir’s wet mane;
Neither would tell me what sight gave them pain.
I saw Thor’s nine footprints fill slowly with rain,
Freyr under fire and Týr at the chain.
The horn-keeper’s blood marked the stones of the span—
All knowledge stood naked, no wiser than man.

[Pre-Chorus]
I traded one eye for the drink from the well,
Hung nine nights wounded where root shadows fell.
I gathered each rune, every whisper of fate—
Not one taught the wise how to walk from this gate.

[Chorus]
This is the Allfather’s last ride west,
Gungnir held level, no shield before my chest.
This is the Allfather’s last ride through flame,
Past sons who lie fallen and men without name.
I know what will take me; I still take the track—
A king may ride forward when none can ride back.

[Verse 2]
The einherjar followed, their numbers worn thin,
Mud on their greaves and black blood on their skin.
No Valkyrie circled to carry them home;
Valhalla was burning from rafter to dome.
I turned in the saddle and looked at each face,
Men I had gathered from every lost place.
“I promised you battle, not victory’s crown.
You owe me no dying. Lay spear points down.”

[Choir]
We died before.
We feast no more.
Where Odin rides,
We meet the war.

[Chorus]
This is the Allfather’s last ride west,
Gungnir held level, no shield before my chest.
This is the Allfather’s last ride through flame,
Past sons who lie fallen and men without name.
I know what will take me; I still take the track—
A king may ride forward when none can ride back.

[Instrumental]
[French horns carry the Gungnir figure while eight-beat tom patterns accelerate beneath tremolo guitars.]

[Bridge]
Víðarr stood silent beside a split stone,
His thick leather shoe dark with blood not his own.
I wanted to name him, to order, to plead,
But sons are not weapons for fathers in need.
He met my one eye and then lowered his head;
No vow passed his lips, yet the vow had been said.

[Buildup]
Fenrir ahead.
The mouth like a door.
Lower the spear.
Let Sleipnir run more.
Fenrir ahead.
The red sky is torn.
One eye on the wolf.
One ear on the horn.

[Final Chorus]
This is the Allfather’s last ride alone,
Past every bright answer engraved into stone.
This is the Allfather’s last ride beneath
A sky split wide by the wolf’s waiting teeth.
I know every ending, each wound and each track—
Knowledge rides with me, but cannot turn me back.

[Outro]
[The hoof pattern stops; Gungnir’s descending figure remains suspended over a single low guitar pulse.]

I lift up the spear
To the fire-bent sky.
Not because I may live.
Because I must try.
